6,6.'62_ 


Stom  f 5e  fei6tari^  of 

(gequeat^b  61?  §im  fo 
t^e  fei6rati?  of 

(ptincefon  C^eofogtcdf  ^emindrg 


BV 

813 

.Al  CAS 

1859 

The 
an 

children 
d  sealing 

m — 

of 
or 

the  chur 
dinances 

ch, 

THE 


CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 


SEALING   ORDINANCES. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

NO.  821  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858,  by 

JAMES  DUNLAP,  Treas., 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 

of  Pennsylvania. 


STEREOTYPED  BT 

JESPER  HARDING  &  SON, 

INQtjniEE  BUILDING,   SOUTH   THIRD   STREET,   PHILADELPHIA. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  article  is  republished* 
by  request  of  the  Board  of  Publication. 
A  few  passages  have  been  amplified  or 
modified,  in  order  more  fully  to  elucidate 
the  views  presented.  A  few  extracts 
from  other  authors  have  also  been  added. 

The  Author. 

*  From  the  Princeton  Eeview. 

(3) 


THE 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH 

AND  SEALING  ORDINANCES. 


There  are  two  classes*  who  have  no 
difficulty  in  determining  the  precise  ec- 
clesiastical status  of  the  children  of  the 
Church.  The  Bapti.sts  cut  the  matter 
short  by  denying  them  any  place  what- 
ever in  the  Church,  until  they  obtain  it 
by  a  personal  profession  of  faith.  They 
recognize  no  difference  between  the  child- 
ren of  believers  and  others,  except  so 
far  as  their  condition  is  likely  to  insure 
superior  Christian  instruction  and  train- 
ing at  the  hands  of  pious  parents.  In  all 
1*  (5) 


6  THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

other  respects  tliey  are  on  the  visible 
footing  of  unbelievers  and  their  children. 
They  belong  to  "  those  that  are  without" 
the  precincts  of  the  Church  and  the  com- 
munion of  saints.  They  are  to  be  treated 
and  dealt  with  accordingly.  Like  all 
worldlings,  heathens,  and  pagans,  until 
they  experience  a  conscious,  inward  re- 
generating change,  of  which  they  give  a 
credible  account,  and  make  a  credible 
profession,  they  are  to  account  themselves, 
and  to  be  accounted  and  proceeded  with, 
as  "aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  strangers  to  the  covenants  of  pro- 
mise, without  hope,  and  without  God  in 
the  world."  All  this  at  once  flows  from, 
and  culminates  in,  the  denial  of  baptism 
to  infants,  the  seal  of  the  covenant  of 
grace  and  badge  of  membership  in  the 
Church. 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  / 

If  this  extreme,  espoused  by  a  small 
section  of  Christendom,  provides  an  easy 
disposal  of  all  questions  relative  to  the 
children  of  the  Church,  by  placing  them 
"without  its  pale,  the  opposite  extreme  is 
no  less  summary  and  decisive  in  relieving 
those  who  adopt  it,  of  all  embarrassment 
in  this  regard.  The  whole  ritual  school, 
including  Romanists  and  romanizing 
Protestants,  not  only  hold  that  infants 
are  to  be  baptized,  but  that  they  are  re- 
generated by  baptism.  It  matters  not 
whether  they  say  it  regenerates  by  its 
own  inherent  mystical  efficacy,  or  whether 
the  Holy  Spirit  does  the  regenerating 
work  coinstantaneously  with  its  adminis- 
tration. On  either  hypothesis,  the  re- 
sult is  the  same.  The  rite  of  baptism 
brings  with  it  regeneration  as  an  opus 
operatum.   But  whoever  is  regenerate  and 


8  THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

baptized,  is  a  member  of  the  Church  vis- 
ible and  invisible,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses. He  is  to  be  accounted  and  dealt 
with  as  such.  He  is  fully  bound  to  every 
duty,  and  entitled  to  every  privilege  in 
the  house  of  God,  of  which  his  age  and 
circumstances  will  admit. 

Between  these  extremes,  which,  be- 
cause they  are  extremes,  thus  meet  in 
cutting  the  knot  which  they  do  not  untie, 
ranges  the  vast  body  of  Protestant  and 
evangelical  Christians,  who  practise  in- 
fant baptism  and  count  it  a  divine  insti- 
tution. Among  these,  all  grades  of  opin- 
ion between  the  two  extremes  above 
noted  may  be  found.  Many  have  no  de- 
terminate opinion  on  the  subject,  unless 
a  vague  impression  that  the  baptism  of 
infants  is  a  lawful,  beautiful  and  edifying 
rite,  or  that  it  is  a  token  of  Christian  in- 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  9 

struction  being  provided  for  the  child,  be 
reckoned  such.  Many  who  hold  thus 
much,  and  hold  it  strenuously,  are  wholly 
at  a  loss  as  to  the  precise  status  of  baptized 
children,  the  manner  and  extent  in  which 
baptism  either  signifies,  seals,  or  procures 
any  advantage  which  they  would  not 
possess  without  it.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  theory,  which  underlies  the  Bap- 
tist system,  a  large  proportion  of  the 
members  of  some  Pedobaptist  commu- 
nions neglect  or  refuse  the  baptism  of 
their  children  altogether.*  Having  lost 
the  sense  or  faith  of  the  things  signified 
by  the  ordinance,  either  they  will  not 
take  the  trouble  to  go  through  with  what 
they  deem  a  useless  ceremony,  or  they 

*  Recent  statistics,  published  in  our  religious  journals, 
have  shown  a  wide  and  deplorable  omission  in  this 
respect. 


10        THE   CHILDREN   OP   THE   CHURCH, 

utterly  ignore  and  repudiate  it  as  worse 
than  useless.  Baptist  proselytism  must 
needs  thrive  on  such  aliment.  This  state 
of  things  isj  in  the  long  run,  inevitable, 
where  the  doctrinal  inculcations,  or  prac- 
tical administration  of  Churches  either 
imply  the  unimportance  of  infant  baptism, 
or  fail  to  show  how  far  and  wherein  it  is 
important.  Such  a  system  must,  by  its 
very  incongruity,  end  in  making  those 
who  are  real,  avowed  Baptists,  or  produce 
a  recoil  which  will  lead  men  to  look  about 
for  more  solid  and  stable  foundations. 
Occasionally  one  in  the  violence  of  his 
rebound  from  this  insane  rationalistic 
view,  strikes  upon  ritualism  or  some 
vague  mysticism  not  easily  distinguished 
from  it.  Transcendental  theology  making 
Christ  chiefly  the  embodiment  and  vehicle 
of  a  theanthropic  life  for  the  race,  which 


AND    SEALING    ORDINANCES.  11 

life  is  deposited  in  the  Church,  and  com- 
municated by  it  through  the  sacraments, 
often  offers  the  buoyant  medium  of  such 
a  transit  to  mystic  ritualism,  and  gilds  it 
with  a  philosophic  as  well  as  churchly 
glare.  But  the  vastly  greater  number, 
in  fleeing  from  lifeless  rationalism,  do  not 
thus  overfly  the  gospel  into  equally  life- 
less formalism.  Believing  that  there  is 
most  precious  truth  signified,  and  bless- 
ing sealed,  by  infant  baptism,  and  that  it 
is  of  God,  they  would  not  surrender  it 
for  worlds.  Yet  they  cannot  define  its 
nature  and  effects  fully  to  their  own  sat- 
isfaction, although  they  possess  some  dim 
and  struggling  conceptions  of  them.  But 
when  they  attempt  to  articulate  these 
conceptions  in  express  statement  or  defi- 
nition, they  find  it  difficult  to  avoid  re- 
presentations which  either  emasculate  it 


12        THE   CHILDREN   OP   THE   CHURCH, 

down  to  rationalism,  or  ossify  it  into  ritu- 
alism. We  have  met  many  evangelical 
clergymen  in  precisely  this  state  of  mind, 
full  believers  in  the  divine  institution  of 
infant  baptism,  yet  craving  more  light  as 
to  its  precise  import  and  efficacy,  and 
urging  us  to  examine  and  discuss  the 
subject.  We  have  met  with  few  who 
have  reached  a  mode  of  apprehending  the 
matter  altogether  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves. 

The  catholic  doctrine  on  this  subject, 
as  shown  in  the  creeds  of  Christendom, 
is,  that  the  children  of  believers  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,  and  are  to  receive 
baptism  as  the  badge  of  such  member- 
ship, and  seal  of  the  duties  and  privileges 
pertaining  to  it.  But  great  diversities 
of  opinion  and  practice  prevail  in  refer- 
ence   to    the   kind    of   membership   in- 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  13 

volved,  and  the  doctrinal  and  practical 
consequences  which  thence  result.  There 
are  some  firm  Pedobaptists,  however, 
who  adopt  the  principle,  that  the  children 
of  believers,  as  such,  are  not  members  of 
the  visible  Church,  or  in  covenant  with 
God>  until  they  become  so  by  their  own 
personal  and  professed  faith  and  repen- 
tance. They  are  on  the  footing  of  other 
children  in  this  respect.  They  hold,  that 
infant  baptism  imports  merely  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  child  to  God  by  the  parent. 
It  is  thus  a  seal  of  the  membership  and 
covenant  interest  of  the  parents,  but  not  of 
the  child.*  Our  observation  has  convinced 
us  that  this  is  the  highest  conception  of  it 

*  This  view  is  elaborately  defended  in  "  Inquiry  into 
the  end  and  design  of  Baptism,"  by  the  Rev.  Cyprian 
Strong,  one  of  the  leading  ministers  of  Connecticut,  in  the 
last  century. 
2 


14        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

entertained  by  great  numbers.  Whether 
they  have  taken  pains  to  examine  the 
subject  enough  to  form  any  distinct  spe- 
culative principles,  or  even  conceptions, 
in  regard  to  it  or  not,  all  their  procedures, 
with  respect  to  baptized  children,  (their 
own  or  others,)  prove  that  they  discern 
in  the  rite  nothing  more  than  a  solemn 
token  of  parental  desire  that  the  child 
may  be  the  Lord's.  This  theory  of  the 
position  of  the  children  of  God's  people 
too  is,  for  substance,  that  of  the  Baptists. 
The  only  difference  respects  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  rite  itself,  not  the  actual 
status  of  the  children  who  receive  it.  It 
results  in  a  substantial  adoption  of  Baptist 
views  and  practice,  with  regard  to  the 
children  of  the  Church.  Although  it 
finds  little  countenance  in  the  symbols, 
or  standard  theology,  or  even  the  prac- 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  15 

tice  of  evangelical  christendonij  as  a 
whole,  yet  it  controls  the  practice  of 
large  masses  of  evangelical  Christians  in 
our  country.  Hence,  it  is  necessary  to 
signalize  it.  Herein  we  are  persuaded 
our  Christianity  suffers  loss.  Many  are 
beginning  to  feel  and  deplore  this  defi- 
ciency, who  yet  hardly  know  what  to 
substitute  for  it,  without  swinging  to  the 
contrary  extreme.  Peculiar  circumstan- 
ces, to  which  we  may  yet  advert,  have 
contributed  to  this  state  of  things  in  large 
sections  of  the  American  Church.  But, 
whatever  be  its  cause,  it  calls  for  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject,  in  the  light  of  first 
principles. 

Passing  from  this  barren  theory,  the 
catholic  doctrine,  that  the  children  of 
Christians  are  Church  members,  which 
alone  furnishes  a  solid  basis  for  the  rite  of 


16    THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

infant  baptism,  has  been  adopted  by 
various  parties  in  a  non-natural  sense. 
These  diverse  conceptions  are  shown  in 
the  different  views  taken  of  their  claims  to 
the  special  instructions  and  oversight  of 
the  Church,  during  the  period  of  their 
growth  and  nurture,  the  conditions  of  their 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  their 
relation  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
when  come  to  the  age  of  discretion;  and, 
especially,  as  inclusive  of  all  else,  of  the 
attitude  in  which  they  presumptively 
stand,  w^hether  as  among  or  outside  of 
God's  people,  and  if  among  them,  of  the 
way  and  conditions  whereby  that  connec- 
tion is  supposed  to  terminate. 

Many  hold  that  they  are  members 
only  quasi,  or  in  such  a  sense  that  the 
Church  owes  them  no  duties  nor  privi- 
leges, above  the  unbaptized.  They  are  not 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  17 

under  its  inspection,  government,  or  care, 
in  an}^  proper  sense,  till  they  profess  to 
have  experienced  that  conscious  change, 
which  opens  the  door  of  full  Church  pri- 
vilege alike  to  the  baptized  and  unbap- 
tized.  Although  they  are  born,  in  a  sort, 
members,  and  as  such  have  the  seal  of 
baptism,  yet  this  is  a  token  and  pledge 
of  nothing  but  of  that  Christian  instruc- 
tion and  training,  which  all  pious  parents 
are  bound  to  impart.  We  are  sure  it  is  no 
exaggeration,  when  we  say,  that  in  a 
considerable  portion  of  our  evangelical 
Churches,  there  is  no  recognition,  no 
consciousness  of  any  relation  being  held 
by  baptized  children,  prior  to  conscious 
and  professed  conversion,  other  than  that 
of  outsiders  to  the  Church,  in  common  with 
the  whole  world  lying  in  wickedness — at 
least  that  portion  of  the  world  which,  hav- 


18        THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

ing  the  light  of  the  gospel,  heeds  it  not. 
Hence,  as  they  grow  up,  until  by  con- 
scious conversion  they  come  out  of  the 
world,  in  which  this  theory  puts  them, 
all  trace  and  recognition  of  their  Church 
relation  disappear.  Whenever  they  see 
their  way  clear  to  profess  their  faith,  and 
come  to  the  Lord's  table,  it  is  regarded 
as  joining  the  Church,  just  as  if  they  had 
never  belonged  to  it.  No  difference  is 
put  between  them  and  the  unbaptized, 
in  the  apprehensions,  the  procedures,  the 
whole  practical  life  of  the  Church,  except 
that  the  latter,  in  joining  its  fellowship, 
receive  the  initiatory  rite,  which  they 
have  never  received  before.  One  great 
evil  of  this  inadequate  system  is,  that 
while  it  makes  infant  baptism  a  seal  of 
Christian  teaching  and  training  to  be 
given  to   the  child,  it  always,  in  some 


AND    SEALING    ORDINANCES.  19 

degree,  and  often  wholly,  prevents  such 
instruction  and  nurture,  or  frustrates 
their  efficacy.  The  doctrine  in  ques- 
tion, withal,  is  contradicted  by  every 
representation  which  the  Bible  gives  of 
the  nature  and  significance  of  baptism; 
and  by  all  the  scriptural  covenants, 
promises,  and  averments  of  every  kind, 
on  which  pedobaptism  is  based.  For 
these  covenants  and  promises  are,  that 
God  will  be  their  God,  and  that  his  word 
shall  not  depart  out  of  their  mouth.  These 
children  are  pronounced  "  children  of  the 
covenant,"  "holy."  This  does  not  ensure 
that  they  all  are  or  will  be  inwardly 
holy.  But  it  does  imply  a  connection 
with  the  people  of  God,  such  as  subsists 
between  the  church  visible  and  invisible, 
and  that  such  of  them  as  fail  to  make 
God  their  God,  are  false  to  their  position 
as  children  of  the  covenant.     The  mere 


20  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

outward  Jew,  who  had  no  circum- 
cision of  the  heart,  was  false  to  his  own 
position.  For  his  outward  circumcision 
was  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  righteousness 
of  faith.  Rom.  ii.  28,  29;  iv.  11.  So 
baptism  is  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  grace 
of  life;  and  the  baptized  unbeliever  vio- 
lates the  requirements  of  his  baptism,  as 
the  unbelieving  professor  violates  the  re- 
quirements of  his  profession. 

Another  theory,  adopted  to  reconcile 
the  actual  church-membership  of  baptized 
children,  with  the  negation  of  the  special 
obligations  and  privileges  pertaining  there- 
to, is  that  held  by  Dr.  D  wight  and  some 
other  New  England  divines.  It  is  in  sub- 
stance this,  that  they  are  members  of  the 
Church  universal,  but  not  of  any  partic- 
ular organized  Church.  This  results  from 
the  cardinal  principle  of  Congregational- 
ism, that  there  is  no  organic  Church  state 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  21 

except  in  particular  congregations,  and 
that  the  formal  cause  of  it  in  them,  is  the 
voluntary  confederation  of  the  members. 
Infants  b^ing  incapable  of  such  voluntary 
covenanting,  of  course,  cannot  be  members 
of  any  organized  Church.  Hence  they 
cannot,  more  than  other  children,  be  under 
Church  inspection  and  discipline.  Many, 
however,  who  adopted  substantially  this 
view,  held  that  by  virtue  of  their  member- 
ship in  the  Church  universal,  they  have 
at  mature  age  a  right  to  certain  Church 
privileges,  (such  as  the  baptism  of  their 
children,)  from  which  the  unbaptized, 
otherwise  like  them,  must  .be  debarred. 
The  scriptural  principle  plainly  is,  that 
all  Christians,  as  members  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  of  one  another,  are 
bound  to  have  a  care  of,  and  to  be  sub- 
ject  one  to   another  in  the  Lord;  that 


22        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

to  this  end,  they  should  be  so  organized 
that  all  may  discharge  their  obligations 
of  love  and  fidelity  to  each,  and  each 
may  be  subject  to  all :  that,  irrespective 
of  any  formal  stipulation,  the  members 
of  the  Church  universal  should  also  be 
members  of  the  particular  congregation 
of  believers  in  which  they  statedly  wor- 
ship, so  as  to  be  subject  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  entitled  to  the  privileges  of 
the  Church  as  therein  respectively  ad- 
ministered and  enjoyed ;  and  hence,  that 
for  all  purposes  of  this  kind,  baptized 
children  are  members  of  the  same  par- 
ticular Churches  as  their  parents.  This 
last  principle  was  expressly  adopted  by 
the  great  Congregational  Synod  of  Boston 
in  1662. 

For  a  long  period  a  large  proportion  of 
the   New  England   Churches,  with   the 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  23 

sanction  and  recommendation  of  this 
Synod,  maintained  and  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  persons  baptized  in  infancy, 
and  free  from  scandal,  on  making  a  pro- 
fession of  faith  and  good  intentions,  which 
still  was  taken  to  be  short  of  a  profession 
of  saving  faith  and  repentance,  were  to 
have  the  privilege  of  baptism  for  their 
children.  This  was  styled, in  the  phrase 
of  the  day,  the  Rolf -way  Covenant. 
Others,  of  whom  Mr.  Stoddard,  of  North- 
ampton, maternal  grandfather  of  Edwards, 
was  the  most  distinguished  champion  and 
representative,  held  that  such  a  partial 
confession  or  covenant,  (one  too  which 
men  regarding  themselves  as  uncon- 
verted and  graceless,  but  yet  sincere, 
might  properly  make.)  entitled  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  It  was  a  part  of  their 
theory   that   this    Sacrament   is   a   con- 


24         THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE    CHURCH, 

verting  as  well  as  a  sanctifying  ordinance. 
This  is  the  scheme  which  Edwards  as- 
sailed and  demolished  in  his  celebrated 
treatise  on  the  "  Qualifications  for  Com- 
munion." It  was  not  an  unnatural  ex- 
crescence from  the  half-way  covenant 
system  introduced  by  the  Synod,  although 
in  direct  contradiction  of  one  of  its  pro- 
positions. For  the  effect  of  recognizing 
it  as  proper  for  those  to  "  give  themselves 
and  their  children  to  Grod"*  in  express 

*  The  propositions  of  the  Synod  were  as  follows  : — 
"  1.  They  that,  according  to  Scripture,  are  members  of 
the  visible  Chm-ch,  are  the  subjects  of  baptism.  2.  The 
members  of  the  visible  Church  according  to  Scripture,  are 
confederate  believers,  in  particular  Churches,  and  their  in- 
fant seed,  i.  e.  children  in  minority,  whose  next  parents,  one 
or  both,  are  in  covenant.  3.  The  infant  seed  of  con- 
federate visible  believers  are  members  of  the  same 
Church  with  their  parents,  and  when  grown  up  are  per- 
sonally under  the  watch,  discipline  and  government  of 


AND    SEALING   ORDINi^NCES.  25 

public  covenant,  who  were  confessedly 
unfit  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  to  make 
the  great  mass  feel  sufficiently  secure 
and  hopeful,  while  shrinking  from  the 
higher  responsibilities  and  engagements 
implied  in  receiving  this  sacrament.  The 
consequence  was,  that  in  most  Churches 
under  this  regimen,  there  were  few  mem- 
bers in  full  communion.  The  impulse 
was  therefore  strong  to  devise  a  theory 

that  Church.  4 .  These  adult  persons  are  not  therefore 
to  be  admitted  to  full  communion,  (the  Lord's  Supper,) 
because  they  are  and  continue  members,  without  such 
farther  qualifications  as  the  word  of  God  requireth 
thereunto.  5.  Church-members  who  were  admitted  in 
minority,  understanding  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and  pub- 
licly professing  their  assent  thereto,  not  scandalous 
in  life,  and  solemnly  owning  the  covenant  before  the 
Church,  wherein  they  give  up  themselves  and  their 
children  to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to  the 
government  of  Christ  in  the  Church,  their  children  are 
to  be  baptized." 


26        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

to  meet  this  state  of  things,  and  enlarge 
the  number  of  communicants*  The 
theory  and  practice  of  these  Churches 
seem  to  have  veered  between  the  propo- 
sitions of  the  Synod  and  the  doctrine  of 
Stoddard,  until  the  whole  half-way  cov- 
enant system,  which  had  been  gradually 
dying  out,  became  extinct  in  the  early 

*  Stoddard's  doctrine  is  thus  stated  by  himself  :  "  That 
which  I  am  to  prove  is,  that  some  unsanctified  men  have 
a  right  before  God  to  the  Lord's  Supper."  Appeal  to 
the  Learned,  p.  20,  as  quoted  by  Edwards,  Works,  New 
Yoi'k  edition,  vol.  4.  p.  486.  On  the  same  page,  he 
quote?  "^-lake,  another  prominent  champion  of  this  school, 
as  saying :  "  That  faith  which  is  the  condition  of  the 
promise,  is  not  the  condition  in  for o  Dei  of  a  title  to  the 
seal."  The  meaning  of  this  is  clear.  Faith  is  not 
necessary  to  the  proper  participation  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. Hence  those  may  properly  be  admitted  to  it,  who 
in  their  own  judgment  and  the  charitable  judgment  of 
the  Church,  are  destitute  of  piety. 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  27 

part  of  this  century;  having  received  its 
mortal  blow  in  the  treatise  of  Edwards, 
to  which  we  have  adverted. 

The  grand  error  of  the  system  in- 
itiated by  the  Synod  does  not  fully  ap- 
pear on  the  face  of  the  propositions  pro- 
pounded by  its  authority.  Certainly, 
baptized  parents,  duly  enlightened,  who 
could  conscientiously  make  the  profes- 
sions and  covenants  required  in  the  fifth 
proposition,  ought  to  be  adjudged,  in  foro 
ecdesioe,  entitled  to  baptism  for  their 
children.  The  error  lay  in  the  applica- 
tion of  it,  which  was  both  intended  and 
adopted.  It  was  avowedly  designed  for 
the  use  of  persons  confessedly  unfit  for  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  consciously  destitute 
of  Christian  piety.  But  it  is  in  reality,  if 
intelligently  made,  as  the  proposition 
supposes,  a  profession  of  religion.     This 


28        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

practice  was  called  "owning  the  cove- 
nant," i.  e.y  taking  in  person,  for  them- 
selves, the  covenants  made  for  them  by 
their  parents  in  infancy.  In  the  Church 
records,  it  was  often  stated,  that  those 
who  did  it,  "recognized  their  baptismal 
obligations" — a  close  approach  to  the 
practice  of  confirmation. 

The  practical  consequences  of  this  ad- 
mission to  one  or  both  sacraments,  of  the 
ungodly,  when  accounted  and  accounting 
themselves  such,  was  that  the  great  bulk 
of  the  people,  on  becoming  parents, 
"owned  the  covenant,"  in  order  to  have 
their  children  baptized.  This  they  did 
mostly  without  making  any  pretensions 
to  piety.  Where  the  Stoddardean  the- 
ory prevailed,  many  of  them  also  went 
to  the  Lord's  table  with  no  pretence  of 
any  higher  qualification,  unless  this  step 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  29 

might  be  understood  to  imply  some  ear- 
nestness in  seeking  conversion.  This 
quasi  profession,  and  membership,  with 
the  privilege  of  baptism  for  their  children, 
satisfied  the  consciences  of  most,  while 
it  was  more  grateful  to  their  wicked 
hearts,  than  the  obligations  of  complete 
church-standing.  Thus  vital,  experimen- 
tal piety  constantly  decayed;  a  dead 
formalism  supervened.  A  decent  moral- 
ity, and  respectful  regard  for  Christian- 
ity, were  in  many  cases  the  great 
results  expected  and  achieved  among  the 
mass  of  the  congregation.  Such  persons 
were  seldom  competent  or  disposed  to 
give  their  children  a  faithful  Christian 
training.  Ecclesiastical  discipline  was 
paralyzed.  This  standard  of  morality 
was  itself  vague,  fluctuating,  elastic  to 

every  demand  of  expediency.  The  system 
3* 


30        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

tended  to  a  ceaseless  degeneracy.  It 
was  hard  to  say  what  shortcomings  in 
parents  should  debar  their  children  from 
the  boon  of  baptism.  At  length  the 
"owning  of  the  covenant"  became  a  mere 
form,  which  the  heedless,  and  sometimes 
the  profane,  did  not  scruple  to  go  through ; 
thus  making  solemn  vows  which  they  pro- 
fanely violated,  in  order  to  obtain  holy 
rites  which  they  openly  desecrated.  This 
system  contained  the  seeds  of  its  own 
dissolution.  It  must  either  end  in  the 
extinction  of  religion,  or  be  uprooted  by 
its  revival.  The  latter  was  the  fortunate 
issue. 

And  yet,  as  every  error  is  but  truth 
exaggerated,  belittled,  distorted,  or  in 
some  way  torn  from  its  proper  relations, 
supplements,  or  expletives,  so  that  truth 
is  apt  to  be  lost  or  disparaged  in  the  pro- 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  31 

cess  of  recovery  from  such  error  Ex- 
tremes often  meet;  and  they  often  beget 
their  opposites.  The  present  case  is  no 
exception.  The  aboUtion  of  the  abuses 
of  the  doctrine  of  infant  Church-member- 
ship has  been  accomplished  in  a  manner 
and  in  circumstances  which  have  led  to 
the  forgetting,  ignoring,  or  disowning  of 
that  precious  truth  itself,  and  the  loss  of 
not  a  little  of  the  sanctifying  influence  and 
fruits  of  holiness  that  cluster  upon  it. 
The  consciousness  and  recognition  of  the 
Church-membership  of  baptized  children 
have  widely  disappeared  from  the  doc- 
trinal and  practical  life  of  those  Churches 
— a  fact  deplored  by  some,  and  denied 
by  none  of  authority  among  them.  The 
strongest  form  in  which  it  has  been 
held,  to  any  extent,  within  any  recent 
period,  is  that  already  indicated  as  the 


32        THE   CHILDREN  OF   THE    CHURCH, 

doctrine  of  Dr.  D wight,  viz.,  that  bap- 
tized children  belong  to  the  Church  uni- 
versal, but  not  to  any  particular  Church. 
This  weakens  or  destroys  its  practical 
power.  The  result  is,  that  baptized 
children  are,  to  all  practical  intents, 
viewed  and  led  to  view  themselves  as  not 
of  the  Church,  but  of  the  world,  until 
they  enter  the  fold  of  Christ  as  other 
converts  from  the  world  do. 

We  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  the  his- 
torical development  of  doctrine  on  this 
subject  in  the  Congregational  body,  be- 
cause it  has  had  an  influence  in  shaping 
the  principles  and  practice  of  evangelical 
Christians  throughout  our  land.  For  as 
the  body  of  Christ  is  one,  and  all  its 
members  are  actuated  by  one  life,  despite 
all  divisions  and  conflicts,  these  members 
will  interpenetrate  each  other  with  a  re- 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  33 

ciprocal  energy.  Each  will  be  felfc  by 
all,  and  all  by  each.  As  between  Con- 
gregationalists  and  Presbyterians,  this 
has  been  peculiarly  the  fact,  because, 
until  a  very  recent  period,  they  were  re- 
garded as  substantially  one  communion, 
whose  chief  difference  was  geographical.* 

*  In  illustratioQ  and  proof  of  this  remark,  we  quote 
from  a  tract,  in  defence  of  Pedobaptism,  published  in 
New  Haven.  Connecticut,  in  1829,  and  found  in  Dr. 
Sprague's  Collection  of  pamphlets  in  the  Princeton 
Theological  Library.  The  author  says,  in  a  preliminary 
note,  "To  avoid  circumlocution,  and  to  comply  with 
the  popular  mage  in  New  England,  I  intend,  by  the  term 
Presbyterians  to  designate  both  Presbyterians  and  Con- 
gregationalists.  These  denominations  are,  in  fact,  both 
one,  the  difference  between  them  being  not  in  articles  of 
belief,  but  in  a  few  customs,  and  every  attack  which  is 
made  upon  one  being  identified  with  that  upon  the  other. 
The  oneness  is  constituted  also  by  the  complete  under- 
standing and  correspondence  which  exist  between  them." 
So  recently  did  New  England,  and  even  New  Haven 


34        THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

This  was  all  the  more  so,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  present  subject,  because  the 
first  controversy  that  agitated  and  finally 
sundered  the  infant  Presbyterian  body  of 
this  country,  had  a  marked  reference  to 
this  very  point;  and  because  the  great 
awakening  of  that  era,  with  the  mighty 
truths  and  errors  which  it  called  into 
life  and  activity,  alike  contributed  to 
shape  the  faith  and  practice  of  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists  on  the  sub- 
ject. One  question,  between  the  parties 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  was.  What 
evidence  of  faith  and  holiness  ought  the 

Congregationalists  feel  at  one  with  Presbyterians,  and 
call  themselves  by  their  name.  It  is  otherwise  now.  The 
causes  and  consequences  of  the  original  unity,  and 
the  present  comparative  weakening  of  the  bonds  be- 
tween the  two  bodies,  deserve  profound  study,  but  are 
aside  of  our  present  inquiry. 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  85 

Church  to  require  of  candidates  for  ad- 
mission to  the  Lord's  Supper  ?  or,  rather, 
What  ought  it  to  account  and  treat  as 
credible  evidence  of  piety,  which,  if  pre- 
sented by  any,  duly  qualified  otherwise, 
should  give  them  access  to  sealing  ordi- 
nances, or  the  sacred  office,  as  the  case 
may  be  ?  It  was,  indeed,  often  stated  and 
argued,  in  the  heat  of  controversy,  as 
if  it  were  something  else : — by  the  Old 
Side,  as  if  their  antagonists  contended 
that  none  but  the  regenerate,  and  those 
who  could  certainly  be  known,  and  know 
themselves  as  such,  had  a  right  to  the 
Sacraments,  not  only  in  foro  conscientice 
et  Dei,  but  also  in  foro  ecdesice ;  and  by 
the  New  Side,  as  if  their  adversaries 
held  that  the  unregenerate  and  ungodly, 
as  such,  were  entitled  to  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per.    Doubtless,  in  the  violence  and  con- 


36        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

fusion  of  debate,  disputants,  on  the  re- 
spective sides,  often  said  what  gave  colour 
to  the  representations  of  their  adversaries. 
But  after  a  careful  survey  of  the  retrac- 
tions and  qualifications  made  on  both 
sides,  we  are  persuaded  that  the  Old  Side 
were  opposing  that  method  of  examina- 
tion, which  proceeds  on  the  theory,  that 
the  Church  can  judge  the  heart,  and  find 
certain  evidence  as  to  who  are,  and  who 
are  not  regenerate,  while  they  would,  by 
no  means,  say  that  the  Lord's  table  was 
designed  for  the  ungodly  and  unbelieving ; 
and  that  the  New  Side  opposed  the  idea, 
that  unbelievers  were  qualified  for  the 
holy  communion,  and  insisted  that  real 
believers  could  and  should  furnish  some 
credible  evidence  of  a  saving  work  in 
their  souls.  Doubtless,  too,  in  a  low 
state  of  Christian  life,  there  had  previ- 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  37 

onsly  been  a  tendency  to  attenuate  the 
requisites  to  a  credible  profession,  and  to 
dwell  too  little  on  the  necessity  of  a  spirit- 
ual and  experimental  work  in  the  soul, 
which  the  Old  Side  were  too  slow  to  re- 
cognize and  correct.  The  reaction  from 
this  swung  to  the  contrary  extreme  of 
laying  too  great  stress  upon  the  narration 
of  inward  experiences,  and  viewing  this 
as  the  great  criterion.* 

^  The  seventh  specification,  in  the  charges  brought  by 
the  Old  Side  against  the  New,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Synod  in  1741,  when  the  disruption  was  effected,  was 
"  Their,  or  some  of  them,  preaching  and  maintaining, 
that  all  true  converts  are  as  certain  of  their  gi-acious 
state,  as  a  person  can  be  of  what  he  knows  by  his  out- 
ward senses,  and  are  able  to  give  a  narrative  of  the  time 
and  manner  of  their  conversion,  or  else  they  conclude 
them  to  be  in  a  natural  or  graceless  state ;  and  that  a 
gracious  person  can  judge  of  another's  gracious  state 
otherwise  than  by  his  profession  and  life,"  This  charge 
4 


38        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

This  relation  of  experiences  was  so 
marked  a  feature  in  the  great  revival 
of  1740,  that  some  have  gone  the  length 

the  New  Side  repelled  as  a  calumnious  caricature. 
Nevertheless,  that  some  plausible  pretext  had  been  given 
for  it,  in  the  course  of  the  awakening,  appears  from  the 
abundant  testimonies  of  Edwards,  to  the  injurious  efifect 
of  this  principle,  and  the  practice  founded  on  it,  upon 
the  revival  itself.  Gilbert  Tennent,  likewise,  and  other 
prominent  leaders  in  the  work,  felt  afterwards  called 
upon  to  utter  earnest  protestations  and  warnings  against 
it.  Tracy  ("  Great  Awakening,"  p.  74)  has,  we  think, 
exaggerated,  when  he  says,  "  The  fundamental  question 
between  the  parties  (Old  and  New  Side  Presbyterians) 
was,  whether  regeneration  is  a  change,  attended  and  fol- 
lowed by  an  experience,  by  which  the  convert  and  others 
can  judge  of  its  reality  ;  and,  of  course,  whether  those 
who  have  no  such  experience  are  to  be  counted  as  unre- 
generate,  and,  therefore,  excluded  from  the  communion 
of  the  Church,  and  deemed  unfit  for  ministers."  This 
statement  of  the  issue  accords  with  the  author's  theory 
of  the  revival. 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  dy 

of  making  this  principle  the  secret  of  its 
origin  and  power.*      It  was  carried  to 

*  "  This  doctrine  of  the  new-birth  as  an  ascertainable 
change,  was  not  generally  prevalent  in  any  communion 
when  the  revival  commenced  ;  it  was  urged  as  of  funda- 
mental importance  by  the  leading  promoters  of  the  re- 
vival ;  it  took  strong  hold  of  those  whom  the  revival  af- 
fected ;  it  naturally  led  to  such  questions  as  the  revival 
brought  up  and  caused  to  be  discussed  ;  its  perversions 
naturally  grew  into,  or  associated  with,  such  errors  as 
the  revival  promoted.  *  *  *  It  must  be  possible  for 
those  who  are  qualified,  to  judge  whether  a  man  has 
made  those  discoveries  of  religious  truth,  and  felt  those 
emotions,  which  are  essential  to  religious  experience.  * 

"  The  history  of  the  '  Great  Awakening'  (of  1740)  is 
the  history  of  this  idea,  making  its  way  through  some 
communities  where  it  had  fallen  into  comparative  neglect, 
and  through  others  where  it  was  nearly  or  quite  unknown  ; 
overturning  theories,  and  habits,  and  forms  of  organiza- 
tion inconsistent  with  it,  *  *  *  and  leading  to  habits  of 
thought  and  practical  arrangements  in  harmony  with 
it." — The  Great  Awakening,  by  Joseph  Tracy.  Boston, 
1845  :  pp.  9, 12,  13. 


40        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

such  a  pitch  of  extravagance,  that  the 
great  Edwards  was  constrained  to  pubUsh 
repeated  and  solemn  protests  against  its 
abuses.  And  yet  his  protestations  prove 
that,  if  not  he,  many  of  his  coadjutors 
"were  providentially  in  an  attitude  which 
led  them  for  a  time  to  magnify  the  im- 
portance, not  of  manifestations  and 
avowals  of  such  views  as  are  Christian, 
and  flow  from  regeneration ;  but  also  of 
such  accounts  or  other  indications  of  its 
upspring  and  progress  in  the  soul,  as 
imjply  the  consciousness  of  a  radical  change 
within  some  definite  and  definable  period ; 
that  these  thus  became,  and  have  since 
continued  to  be,  in  the  popular  mind,  to 
a  great  extent,  the  test  of  piety ;  while 
the  value,  if  not  the  possibility,  of  true 
Christian  feehng,  inwrought  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,    and    developed    gradually    by 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES,  41 

Christian  nurture,  so  as  sometimes  to  pre- 
clude distinct  statements  of  any  time  be- 
fore which  it  was  not,  or  of  the  manner 
and  order  of  its  progress  in  the  soul,  was 
then,  and,  with  too  many  has  been  since, 
unduly  ignored,  and  altogether  under- 
rated. This  was  the  natural  consequence 
of  their  revulsion  from  the  great  abuses 
of  the  principle  in  question,  which  they 
were  called  to  reform.*     Yet,  although 

*  Mr.  Tracy  ("  Great  Awakening,"  p.  14)  only  re- 
flects a  fashion  which  originated  in  times  he  describes, 
when  he  bestows  the  epithet  Arminianism  upon  "  the  idea 
of  a  gradual,  imperceptible,  and  unascertainable  regene- 
ration." It  is  of  no  consequence  whether  this  idea  be 
it  right  or  wrong,  belongs  to  Arminianism  or  not. 
Everything  depends  on  the  meaning,  or  rather,  the  in- 
tended application  of  these  terms.  If  by  "  unascertain- 
able," be  meant  that  the  renewed  soul  will  not  let  its 
light  shine,  and  that  we  are  not  to  know  it  by  its  fruits 
of  holiness  in  profession  and  life,  then  such  a  scheme  is 
4* 


42        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

such  was  the  drift,  tendency,  and  effect 
of  the  teachmgs  and  procedures  which 

false,  whether  Arminian  or  not.  But  if  it  be  meant  to 
imply,  that  we  can  search  or  know  the  hearts,  or  be  sure 
who  are  regenerate,  this  is  the  prerogative  of  God.  De 
occuUis  Ecclesia  non  judical.  It  judges  only  of  a  credible 
profession  ;  and  it  can  erect  no  standard  of  credible  pro- 
fession, which  will  keep  out  all  tares,  without  also  ex- 
cluding the  wheat.  If  by  "gradual"  be  meant,  that  re- 
generation itself  is  not  instantaneous,  that  there  is  not  a 
moment  before  which  the  subject  of  it  is  not,  after  which 
he  is,  a  child  of  God  ;  this  also  is  to  be  utterly  repudi- 
ated. But  if  it  be  meant  that  the  development  of  it  in 
consciousness,  may  be  so  gradual  as  to  be,  in  its  succes- 
sive stages,  even  "  imperceptible,"  then  Mr.  Tracy  him- 
self concedes  it.  He  says,  page  11,  "  In  some,  the  pro- 
cess occupies  several  years ;  in  others,  it  is  so  rapid  that 
some  of  the  steps  are  seen  only  in  their  results  ;  in  others 
still,  it  is  repeatedly  interrupted  and  resumed.  Yarieties 
are  caused  by  the  varieties  of  intellectual  character  and 
style  of  thought,"  &c.  Among  the  most  holy  and  or- 
thodox men,  whom  we  have  ever  known,  are  those  who 
assured  us  that  they  remembered  not  the  time  when  they  did 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  43 

shaped  this  awakening,  in  the  issue  none 
ever    insisted    more    strenuously    than 

not  fear  God,  or  when  they  experienced  any  marked  con- 
scious revokition  in  their  feelings  toward  him.  In  one 
sense,  this  regeneration,  in  such  cases,  is  neither  gradual, 
imperceptible,  nor  unascertainable.  In  another,  and  that 
probably  the  sense  intended,  to  some  extent  at  least,  by 
Mr.  Tracy  and  others,  it  is  the  subject  of  all  these  attri- 
butes. To  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  who  worketh 
when,  where,  and  how  he  will,  to  that  mode  of  renewing 
the  soul,  which  involves  a  marked  and  known  era  of  con- 
scious change,  is  far  enough  from  Calvinism  and  from 
Scripture,  whatever  may  be  its  relations  to  Arminianism. 
Surely,  God  sanctifies  some  from  the  womb.  He  makes 
others,  from  a  child,  know  the  holy  Scriptures  in  a  sav- 
ing sense.  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings  he 
ordains  praise.  Edwards,  whom  Mr,  Tracy  classes  on 
his  side,  and  whose  circumstances  doubtless  led  him 
to  emphasise  the  class  of  truths  weighing  on  this  side  of 
the  scale,  rather  than  another  class  which  balance,  modi- 
fy, and  interpret  them,  says,  "  The  Scripture  gives  us 
ground  to  think  that  some  infants  have  the  habit  of  sav- 
ing grace,  and  that  they  have  a  new  nature  given  them." 
— Reply  to  Williams,  vol.  4,  p.  578. 


44 

Edwards  and  Tennent,  that  the  only 
proper  evidence  of  a  work  of  the  Spirit, 
is  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  all  holy  dis- 
positions and  conduct;  and  that  when 
these  are  apparent,  or  credibly  professed, 
there  is  credible  proof  of  regeneration, 
whether  the  history  of  any  experience 
can  be  recited  or  not ;  and  that  all  the 
raptures  w^hich  can  be  portrayed  by  the 
tongues  of  men  or  angels  are  worthless 
■without  them.  This  truth  they  vindi- 
cated and  reiterated,  with  an  emphasis 
and  solemnity  worthy  of  its  importance, 
especially  in  their  later  treatises,  after 
the  mischiefs  of  the  opposite  error  had 
been  fully  developed.  Still,  it  is  appa- 
rent that  this  great  revival,  while  it  re- 
sulted in  a  great  and  blessed  increase  of 
true  piety ;  while  it  uplifted  the  cause  of 
spiritual  and  experimental  religion,  not 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  45 

only  from  depression,  but  even  from  a 
certain  undue  disparagement,  in  the  mind 
of  the  Church  ;  while  it  removed  the  fun- 
gous mi sgrowths  which  sloth  and  unbelief 
had  educed  from  the  church-membership 
of  baptized  children;  also,  in  many 
quarters,  unsettled  the  faith  of  the  Church 
in  that  pregnant  truth,  and  its  logical  and 
practical  relations.  The  fruit  has  ap- 
peared in  the  distinguishing  features  of 
our  American  Christianity  for  better  and 
for  worse;  in  aremarkablevigour  of  aggres- 
sive evangelism  upon  those  that  are  with- 
out, and  in  too  often  putting  without  the 
fold  the  lambs  of  the  flock,  so  far,  alas ! 
that  immense  numbers  of  them  are  lost, 
past  recovery,  upon  the  dark  mountains 
of  sin  !  The  latter  we  ought  to  correct ; 
the  former  we  should  hold  fast,  and  let 
none  take  our  crown.    These  things  ought 


46        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

we  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the 
other  undone.  Hence,  too,  our  theology 
has  tasked,  and  often  exhausted  itself  on 
topics  suhjective,  relative  to  regeneration 
and  conversion,  while  it  has  been  more 
meagre  in  reference  to  the  objective,  di- 
vine, and  heavenly  truths,  which  are  the 
aliment  of  faith  and  love.  The  number 
is  legion,  who  vaunt  it  as  the  super-emi- 
nent glory  of  American  theology,  that  it 
has  made  the  discovery  of  the  sinner's 
full  abihty  to  turn  to  God.  Thus  they 
flatter  themselves  that  the  way  has  been 
made  clear,  as  it  never  has  been  else- 
where, for  alienated  children,  and  all 
other  aliens  from  Christ's  house,  to  enter 
it.  After  all,  he  who  comes  to  Christ, 
must  be  born,  "  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God."  John  i.  12.    And  herein  he 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  47 

will  be  true  to  his  own  covenants.  It  is 
in  Zion  that  the  children  of  the  Church 
are  born  to  newness  of  life.  Since  He 
has  promised  to  be  their  God,  it  is  in 
training  them  as  if  they  were  his ;  as  if 
it  were  alone  congruous  with  their  posi- 
tion to  walk  as  his  children  in  faith,  love, 
hope,  and  all  holy  obedience,  that  we  are 
to  look  for  that  inworking  Spirit,  and  out- 
working holiness,  commensurate  with 
their  years,  which  shall  seal  them  as  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty. 
This  is  what  we  believe  to  be  the  bles- 
sed significance  and  intent  of  infant  bap- 
tism. This  is  what  we  have  at  heart  in 
writing  these  pages ;  instead  of  having 
our  children  with  the  seal  of  God's  cove- 
nant on  their  foreheads  practically  cast 
out,  before  they  cast  themselves  out,  to 
be  classed,  and  thence  class  themselves. 


48         THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE    CHURCH, 

in  form  and  feeling,  with  the  ungodly 
and  profane — a  course  from  which,  we 
believe  they,  and  the  cause  of  religion 
witli  them,  suffer  irreparable  loss. 

Our  own  faith  on  this  subject  is  ex- 
pressed with  great  precision  in  the  stand- 
ards of  our  Church,  which  themselves 
exhibit  the  truth  in  the  premises  intact 
and  inviolate,  however  any  of  her  mem- 
bers may  have  come  short  of  the  duty 
and  privilege  thus  held  forth.  And 
whatever  our  shortcomings,  we  believe 
the  tone  of  opinion  and  practice  among 
us,  is  above  the  average  standard  among 
Christian  bodies  most  nearly  allied  to  us. 
We  rejoice  that  they  are  beginning  to 
give  attention  to  the  subject,  and  hope 
that  all  will  contribute  to  meet  a  com- 
mon want.  The  half-way  covenants  and 
mere  external  covenants,  with  their  af- 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  49 

filiated  theories  and  practice,  which  infest- 
ed the  New  England  Churches,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  extreme  reaction, 
never  obtained  a  foothold  in  our  com- 
munion. They  doubtless  originated  in  the 
effort  to  keep  the  body  of  communicants, 
who  constituted  the  independent  ruling 
power,  pure,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
keep  their  children  and  children's  children 
within  the  precincts  of  the  Church.  It 
is  indeed  true,  that  the  practice  of  bap- 
tizing the  children  of  non-communicants 
has  in  time  past  been  more  or  less  pre- 
valent in  our  Churches,  and  in  the  Re- 
formed Churches  of  Europe.  This,  how- 
ever, has  not  been  done  on  the  basis  of 
any  pseudo-covenant  or  profession  which 
they  have  made  in  the  capacity  of  unbe- 
lievers giving  themselves  or  their  children 
to  Grod;  not  on  any  basis,  which,  admit- 


50        THE    CHILDREN   OP   THE   CHURCH, 

ting  children  to  baptism,  excludes  those 
who  offer  them  from  the  Lord's  table; 
but  either  on  the  ground  that  their 
parents  being  by  baptism  in  the  Church 
and  free  from  scandal,  presumptively  in 
the  judgment  of  a  discreet  charity  have 
faith,  in  its  principle  and  initial  actings, 
such  as  would  justify  baptism  for  their 
children,  and  for  themselves  if  they  were 
unbaptized,  though  not  sufficiently  de- 
veloped as  yet  to  enable  them  to  come 
with  due  preparation  or  confidence  to  the 
Lord's  Supper;  or  that  some  pious  per- 
son or  persons  adopt  them  quoad  hoc,  and 
undertake  to  secure  their  pious  nurture* 
The  practice,  however,  of  baptizing  any 

*  The  early  defenders  of  the  Xew  England  Synod's 
propositions,  also  based  the  grant  of  baptism  to  non- 
coraraiinicants,  (or  their  children,)  on  this  distinction  be- 
tween initial  and  developed  faith. 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  51 

but  the  natural  and  adopted  children  of 
communicants,  and  such  as  are  reared 
and  trained  in  their  families,  is,  so  far 
as  we  know,  now  obsolete  among  us. 
However  the  practice  may  have  been 
strained  at  particular  times  and  places, 
the  prevailing  principle  has  doubtless 
been,  that  he  who  is  entitled  to  the  one 
sacrament  for  himself  or  his  offspring,  is 
entitled  to  the  other,  till  he  displays  some 
clear  disqualification  for  it  in  heresy  or 
scandal, — Eadem  est  ratio  iitriusqiie  sacra- 
mentis  each  being  a  seal  of  the  same  cove- 
nant of  grace  *  Those  who,  giving  evi- 
dence of  piety  to  others,  distrust  them- 
selves, who  dare  not  withhold  the  seal  of 

*  This  substantially,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
discover,  has  been  the  common  mode  of  defending  this 
practice  among  those  evangelical  Protestants,  who  have 
sanctioned  it.  Of  course,  on  this,  as  on  all  other  sub- 
jects, exceptional  cases  may  be  found. 


52        THE   CHILDREN    OF    THE   CHURCH, 

the  covenant  from  their  children,  and  yet 
dare  not  come  to  the  Lord's  table,  lest 
they  eat  and  drink  damnation  to  them- 
selves, are  in  most  communions  occasion- 
ally allowed  the  former  privilege,  even 
before  they  feel  warranted  to  accept  the 
latter;  not  because  different  qualifications 
in  kind  are  requisite  for  the  two  sacra- 
ments, but  because  the  Lord's  Supper 
requires  not  mere  faith,  but  faith  de- 
veloping and  proving  itself  in  self-ex- 
amination and  discerning  of  the  Lord's 
body.   1  Cor.  xi.  28,29. 

The  doctrine  of  our  own  Church  on 
this  whole  subject  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  Confession  of 
Faith,  Catechisms,  and  the  Directory  for 
Worship : 

1.  "The  catholic  or  universal  Church, 
which  is  invisible,  consists  of  the  whole 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  53 

number  of  the  elect,  that  have  been  or 
shall  be  gathered  into  one,  under  Christ 
the  head  thereof;  and  is  the  spouse,  the 
body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  fiUeth  all 
in  all. 

2.  "The  visible  Church,  which  is  also 
catholic  or  universal  under  the  gospel, 
(not  confined  to  one  nation  as  before  un- 
der the  law,)  consists  of  all  those  through- 
out the  world  that  profess  the  true  re- 
ligion, together  with  their  children;  and 
is  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  house  and  family  of  God,  out  of 
which  there  is  no  ordinary  possibility  of 
salvation."     Confession  of  Faith,  chap.  25. 

3.  "  Sacraments  are  holy  signs  and 
seals  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  immediate- 
ly instituted  by  God,  to  represent  Christ 
and  his  benefits,  and  to  confirm  our  in- 
terest in  him;  as  also  to  put  a  visible 

5* 


54     THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

difference  between  those  that  belong  unto 
the  Church  and  the  rest  of  the  world, 
and  solemnly  to  engage  them  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God  in  Christ  according  tv^  nis 
word."     Confession,  chap.  27. 

4.  "Baptism  is  a  sacrament  of  the 
New  Testament  ordained  by  Jesus  Christ, 
not  only  for  the  solemn  admission  of  the 
party  baptized  into  the  visible  Church, 
but  also  to  be  unto  him  a  sign  and  seal  of 
the  covenant  of  grace,  of  his  ingrafting 
into  Christ,  of  regeneration,  of  remission 
of  sins,  and  of  his  giving  up  unto  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  to  walk  in  newness 
of  life ;  which  sacrament  is,  by  Christ's 
own  appointment,  to  be  continued  in  his 
Church  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

5.  "Not  only  those  that  do  actually 
profess  faith  in,  and  obedience  unto 
Christ;  but  also  the  infants  of  one  or 
both  believing  parents  are  to  be  baptized. 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  55 

6.  "Although  it  be  a  great  sin  to  con- 
temn or  neglect  this  ordinance,  yet  grace 
and  salvation  are  not  so  inseparably  an- 
nexed to  it  as  that  no  person  can  be  re- 
generated or  saved  without  it,  or  that 
all  that  are  baptized  are  undoubtedly 
regenerated. 

7.  "  The  efficacy  of  baptism  is  not  tied 
to  that  moment  of  time  wherein  it  is  ad- 
ministered; yet  notwithstanding,  by  the 
right  use  of  this  ordinance  the  grace  pro- 
mised is  not  only  offered,  but  really  ex- 
hibited and  conferred  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
to  such  (whether  of  age  or  infants)  as 
that  grace  belongeth  unto,  according  to 
the  counsel  of  God's  will,  in  his  appoint- 
ed time."  Confession  of  Faith^  chap.  28. 

8.  "  The  Lord's  Supper  is  a  sacrament, 
wherein,  by  giving  and  receiving  bread 
and  wine,  according  to  Christ's  appoint- 


56        THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

merit,  his  death  is  showed  forth,  and  the 
worthy  receivers  are,  not  after  a  corporal 
and  carnal  manner,  but  by  faith,  made 
partakers  of  his  body  and  blood,  with  all 
his  benefits,  to  their  spiritual  nourishment 
and  growth  in  grace."  Shorter  Catechisin, 
Quest.  96. 

9.  "They  that  receive  the  Lord's 
Supper,  are,  before  they  come,  to  prepare 
themselves  thereunto,  by  examining 
themselves  of  their  being  in  Christ,  of 
their  sins  and  wants,  of  the  truth  and 
measure  of  their  knowledge,  faith,  repen- 
tance, love  to  God  and  the  brethren, 
charity  to  all  men,  forgiving  those  that 
have  done  them  wrong,  of  their  desires 
after  Christ,  and  of  their  new  obedience, 
and  by  renewing  the  exercise  of  these 
graces,  by  serious  meditation  and  fervent 
prayer. 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  57 

10.  "One  who  doubteth  of  his  bemg  in 
Christ,  or  of  his  due  preparation  to  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  may 
have  true  interest  in  Christ,  though  he 
be  not  yet  assured  thereof;  and,  in  God's 
account,  hath  it,  if  he  be  duly  affected 
with  the  apprehension  of  the  want  of  it, 
and  unfeignedly  desirous  to  be  found  in 
Christ,  and  to  depart  from  iniquity;  in 
which  case,  (because  promises  are  made, 
and  this  sacrament  is  appointed  for  the 
relief  even  of  weak  and  doubting  Chris- 
tians,) he  is  to  bewail  his  unbelief,  and 
labour  to  have. his  doubts  resolved;  and  so 
doing,  he  may  and  ought  to  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  that  he  may  be  further 
strengthened."  Larger  Catechism,  Quest. 
17i~2. 

IL  "Children  born  w^ithin  the  pale  of 
the  visible  Church,  and  dedicated  to  God 


58        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

in  baptism,  are  under  the  inspection  and 
government  of  the  Church;  and  are  to  be 
taught  to  read,  and  repeat  the  Catechism, 
the  apostles'  creed  and  the  Lord's  pray- 
er. They  are  to  be  taught  to  pray,  to 
abhor  sin,  to  fear  God,  and  obey  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And,  when  they 
come  to  years  of  discretion,  if  they  be 
free  from  scandal,  appear  sober  and 
steady,  and  to  have  sufficient  knowledge 
to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  they  ought 
to  be  informed,  it  is  their  duty  and  pri- 
vilege to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

12.  "The  years  of  discretion  in  young 
Christians  cannot  be  precisely  fixed. 
This  must  be  left  to  the  prudence  of  the 
eldership.  The  officers  of  the  Church 
are  the  judges  of  the  qualifications  of 
those  to  be  admitted  to  sealing  ordinan- 
ces ;  and  of  the  time  when  it  is  proper  to 
admit  young  Christians  to  them. 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  59 

13.  "Those  who  are  to  be  admitted  to 
sealing  ordinances,  shall  be  examined  as 
-to  their  knowledge  and  piety. 

14.  "  The  ignorant  and  the  scandalous 
are  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
; Supper;"  and   the   minister  is   directed 

publicly  to  "warn  the  profane,  the  igno- 
rant, and  scandalous,  and  those  that 
secretly  indulge  themselves  in  any 
known  sin,  not  to  approach  the  holy 
table.  On  the  other  hand,  he  shall  in- 
vite to  this  holy  table,  such  as,  sensible 
of  their  lost  and  helpless  state  by  sin, 
depend  upon  the  atonement  of  Christ  for 
pardon  and  acceptance  with  God;  such 
as,  being  instructed  in  the  gospel  doc- 
trine, have  a  competent  knowledge  to  dis- 
cern the  Lord's  body,  and  such  as  desire 
to  renounce  their  sins,  and  are  deter- 
mined to  lead  a  holy  and  godly  life." 
Directory^  chaps.  8,  9. 


60        THE    CHILDREN   OF    THE   CHURCH, 

To  preclude  misconstruction  in  any 
quarter,  we  observe,  at  the  outset,  that 
these  articles  deny  all  intrinsic  efficacy 
to  the  sacraments,  as  such.  They  avail 
nothing  to  those  who  do  not  exercise 
faith  in  the  things  of  which  they  are  the 
signs  and  seals.  They  are  profitable  to 
such,  only  in  so  far  as  their  faith  is 
quickened  and  strengthened  by  behold- 
ing the  sensible  emblems  which  make 
the  "word  visible;"  and  the  seals  whereby 
God  ratifies  to  us  his  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises.  They  no  way 
contravene,  they  strenuously  uphold, 
that  great  Protestant  principle,  that  we 
get  no  more  from  any  sacrament  than  we 
take   by  faith.*      Further,    they   teach 

*  Caeterum,  ex  hoc  sacramento,  quemadmodum  ex  aliis 
omnibus,  nihil  assequimur  nisi  quantum  fide  accipiamus. 
Calvin,  de  Baptismo. 


AND    SEALING  ORDINANCES.  61 

that  the  grace  thus  signed  and  sealed  by 
the  sacraments  is  not  tied  to  them,  either 
as  to  the  persons  on  whom,  or  the  time 
when,  it  is  bestowed ;  that  there  may  be 
true  believers  who  receive  the  grace 
without  its  sacramental  seals,  while  many 
unbelievers  receive  the  outward  rite 
without  the  thing  signified;  baptized 
with  water,  but  not  with  the  Holy 
Ghost;  eating  and  drinking  the  bread 
and  wine,  and  at  the  same  time  eating 
and  drinking  condemnation  to  them- 
selves. And  further  still,  with  regard 
to  baptism,  even  in  cases  where  the  gift 
sealed  is  bestowed,  it  may  be  before  or 
after  the  administration  of  the  rite.  All 
which  is  plainly  taught  in  the  word  of 
God. 

Keeping  this  in  view,  it  is  next  to  be 
observed,  that  our  standards  assert  that 
6 


62        THE    CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

the  children  of  believers  are  members  of 
the  visible  Church — not  quasi,  but  ab- 
solutely. This  does  not  imply  that  they 
are  therefore  to  perform  functions  or  en- 
joy privileges  in  the  Church,  proper  only 
to  riper  years  and  intelligent  piety.  But 
it  does  imply  that  they  are  entitled  to 
every  privilege  of  receiving  Christian  re- 
cognition, inspection,  government,  instruc- 
tion and  guidance,  and  bound  to  every  of- 
fice of  obedience  and  love  to  Christ  and 
his  people,  which  are  appropriate  to  their 
age  and  circumstances,  as  members  of 
the  Church.  Children  are  none  the  less 
members  of  civil  society,  entitled  to  its 
care  and  protection,  and  bound  to  serve  it 
loyally,  according  to  their  circumstances, 
although  not  as  yet  quahfied  to  vote,  or 
eligible  to  office.  Less  than  this  the 
language  of  our  Directory  cannot  import, 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  63 

"with  regard  to  the  stains  of  baptized  child- 
ren in  the  visible  Church. 

AVhat  then  is  the  visible  Church,  and 
what  the  ground  of  membership  in  it? 
We  accept  the  answer  which  our  Confes- 
sion gives  to  these  questions.  But  what 
does  this  fairly  imply?  Surely,  that  the 
true  Church  of  God  is  made  up  of  those 
whom  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own 
blood;  and  that  those  who  apparently,  or 
to  the  eye  of  a  judicious  charity,  are  of 
this  number,  are  visibly,  or  for  all  pur- 
poses of  human  judgment  and  action,  of 
this  Church — i.  e.  are  the  Church  visible. 
Now  in  what  way  do  they  thus  become 
visibly,  or  for  all  purposes  of  human  recog- 
nition and  treatment,  of  the  number  of 
Christ's  redeemed  people,  the  household 
of  faith?  In  two  ways :  1.  In  the  case  of  all 
capable  of  it,  by  a  credible  "profession  of 


64 

the  true  religion."  Without  professing  it  in 
some  form,  they  cannot  appear  to  possess 
it.  And  if  this  profession  of  religion  be 
accompanied  by  heresies  or  scandals  which 
render  the  profession  of  it  unworthy  of 
belief,  then  it  does  not  render  those  who 
make  it,  visible  Christians,  or  visibly 
members  of  the  Church  of  God.  2. 
Those  incapable  of  such  profession,  may 
be  visibly  members  of  the  Church,  by 
virtue  of  God's  revealed  covenant  or 
promise  to  be  their  God.  This  is  precisely 
the  case  with  infants  and  the  ground  of 
their  baptism.  But  in  either  case,  mem- 
bership in  the  visible  church  is  founded 
on  presumptive  membership  in  the  invis- 
ible, which,  as  we  have  seen,  "  consists  of 
the  whole  number  of  the  elect,  that  have 
been,  or  are,  or  shall  he  gathered  into  one 
under  Christ,  the  head  thereof."  Charnock 


AND    SEALING    ORDINANCES.  65 

says:  "Baptism  supposes  faith  in  the 
adult,  and  in  the  parent,  the  promise  of 
faith  for  the  child."  And  Dr.  Watts  says : 
'^  In  my  opinion,  so  far  as  they  (infants) 
are  in  any  way  members  of  the  visible 
Church,  it  is  upon  supposition  of  their  be- 
ing (with  their  parents)  members  of  the 
invisible  Church  of  God."  * 

Our  standards  surely  set  forth  nothing 
less  than  this  :  they  direct  that  baptized 
children  be  taught  and  trained  to  believe, 
feel,  act,  and  live  as  becomes  those  who 
are  the  Lord's;  not  merely  that  it  is 
wrong  and  perilous  to  be  and  do  otherwise, 
which  is  true  of  all,  whether  within  or 
without  the  Church,  but  that  such  a 
course  is  inconsistent  with  their  position 

*  Both  the  foregoing  quotations  are  taken  from  a  letter 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Foxcroft  to  Edwards,  in  the  works  of  the 
latter.    Yol.  iv.  page  450.    New  Tork  edition, 
6* 


66        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

as  members  of  the  Church,  placed  in  it 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  and  bound  to  his 
service  by  vows  made  for  them  by  their 
parents,  whose  duty  and  privilege  it  was, 
thus  to  act  for  them  and  give  them  a  place 
among  the  people  of  God,  until  they  be- 
come competent  in  their  own  persons, 
and  of  their  own  choice,  either  to  retain 
or  renounce  it.  The  case  is  precisely 
analogous  to  that  of  adult  professors  and 
non-professors.  All  are  bound  to  obey 
Christ  on  pain  of  perdition.  But  who 
does  not  admit  a  specialty  in  the  profes- 
sor's obligation,  and  a  flagrant  breach  of 
the  proprieties  of  his  position,  if  he  be 
recreant  to  it  ?  * 

*  "All  baptized  persons  are  members  of  the  Church. 
Their  duty,  therefore,  to  acknowledge  Christ  before  the 
world,  rests  on  yet  clearer  grounds.  It  is  true,  we  do 
not  ascribe  a  regenerating  grace  to  their  baptism  ;  but 
we  do  not  go  to  the  other  extreme  of  making  this  precious 


AND    SEALING    ORDINANCES.  67 

The  Directory  still  more  clearly  implies 
the  same  presumption  in  regard  to  the 

ordinance  a  nullity.  Those  who  have  been  baptized, 
stand  in  a  relation  to  the  Church  different  from  that  of 
the  world  at  large.  They  have  been  designated  as  dis- 
ciples or  learners,  and  where  the  parental  obligations 
have  been  discharged,  have  been  trained  in  •  religious 
knowledge.  Such  children  of  the  Church  should  often 
consider  the  privileges  and  benefits  sealed  in  this  ordin- 
ance. They  should  be  humbled  for  their  sins,  and  for 
falling  short  of,  or  walking  contrary  to,  the  grace  of  bap- 
tism and  its  engagements.  They  should  feel  bound  to 
the  faith  and  practice  signified  by  their  symbolical  sep- 
aration from  the  world.  Children  born  within  the  pale 
of  the  visible  church,  and  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism, 
are  to  be  taught  to  read,  and  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
and  the  Apostles'  Creed  ;  to  abhor  sin,  to  fear  God,  to 
pray,  and  to  obey  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  when  they  ar- 
rive at  years  of  discretion,  it  behoves  every  one  of  them 
to  consider  the  duty  of  ratifying  the  vows  made  in  their 
name,  by  a  personal  avowal  of  allegiance  to  Christ.  The 
case  of  such  is  therefore  widely  different  from  that  of  the 
world  without." — "  Plain  words  to  a  young  Communi- 
cant:' By  J.  W.  Alexander,  D.  D. 


68        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

baptized,  in  asserting  it  to  be  their  duty 
and  privilege,  on  reaching  the  years  of 
discretion,  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table, 
unless  by  heresy,  ignorance,  or  scandal, 
they  rebut  this  presumption ;  just  as  those 
who  in  words  profess  Christ  may  in  works 
so  deny  him  as  to  nullify  that  profession ; 
while  at  the  same  time,  it  everywhere 
maintains  that  piety  as  well  as  knowledge, 
weak  or  strong  it  may  be,  but  still  evan- 
gelical and  saving,  is  a  qualification  re- 
quisite for  the  safe  and  profitable  partici- 
pation of  that  sacrament.  The  credible 
profession  of  it  is  requisite  m/oro  ecclesiaCy 
the  reality  or  a  prevalent  conviction  of 
its  reality  in  the  light  of  candid  self-ex- 
amination, in  for 0  conscientiae  et  Dei,  All 
this  imports  nothing  less  than  a  presump- 
tion that  the  children  of  the  Church  are 
and   will   prove   to   be   the   chosen    of 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  69 

God,  until  they  dispel  that  presumption, 
by  their  own  misconduct.* 

The  same  thing  appears  from  the  very 
nature  of  baptism,  which  is  indeed  the 
badge  of  union  to  the  visible  Church, 
and  why  ?  Because,  according  to  every 
account  of  it  given  in  Scripture  or  our 
standards,  it  is  a  sign  of  those  graces  and 
a  seal  of  those  covenants,  which  per- 
tain to  those  who  are  in  Christ,  not  only 
of  Israel,  but  Israelites  indeed.  Now  al- 
though sacramental  signs  and  seals  of 
themselves  convey  nothing,  any  more 
than  the  seal  on  a  title-deed,  and  although 

*  "  Children  by  baptism  are  solemnly  received  into  the 
bosom  of  the  visible  Church,  distinguished  from  the 
world,  and  them  that  are  without,  and  united  with  be- 
lievers." Directory  of  Church  of  Scotland,  as  quoted  in 
Report  on  the  Discipline  of  baptized  children,  to  the 
General  Assembly,  in  1812,  by  Drs.  Miller,  Richards  and 
Romeyn. 


70        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

they  are  not  attended  with  any  convey- 
ance of  the  blessings  signified  to  those 
who  do  not  in  faith  accept  them,  any  more 
than  a  sealed  deed  conveys  real  estate 
till  it  is  delivered  and  accepted,  yet  the 
administration  of  the  seal  is  founded  upon 
a  presumption  that  the  things  sealed  will 
also  be  bestowed  and  accepted,  till  the 
contrary  appears.  On  no  other  ground 
can  infant  baptism  have  significance  or 
propriety.  In  the  case  of  infants,  the 
parent,  guardian  or  sponsor  quoad  hoc,  ac- 
cepts or  professes  to  accept  for  himself 
and  child  the  blessings  signified  and  of- 
fered; he  binds  the  child,  so  far  as  such 
promise  depends  upon  the  sponsor  for  ful- 
filment, to  comply  with  the  conditions  of 
the  offer,  and  accept  the  covenanted  mer- 
cies w^hen  he  becomes  competent  to  act 
for  himself.     He  therefore  covenants  on 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  71 

his  own  part,  so  far  as  he  acts  for  the 
child,  or  can  exert  an  influence  in  mould- 
ing his '  principles,  feelings,  and  conduct, 
his  mind,  heart,  and  life,  to  train  him  up 
in  the  way  in  which  he  should  go ;  in 
short,  to  educate  him  to  think,  feel  and 
act  as  a  child  of  God.  When  this  is  done 
in  its  true  meaning  and  intent,  most  com- 
monly the  child,  on  arriving  at  riper  years, 
^vill  fulfil  his  part  of  the  covenant.  He 
wnll  recognize  and  personally  assume  his 
baptismal  vows  as  his  own,  personally 
accept  by  faith  the  blessings  thus  stipu- 
lated and  sealed  to  faith,  personally  take 
his  place  as  a  professed  follower  of  Christ, 
and  serve  him  without  fear  in  holiness 
and  righteousness  all  the  days  of  his  life. 
There  are  three  parties  to  this  covenant 
sealed  in  the  baptism  of  children  :  God, 
the  parent  and  the  child.     Originally  the 


72         THE    CHILDREN    OF    THE   CHURCH, 

first  two  are  the  responsible  stipulators. 
At  the  age  of  majority  the  child  comes 
in  place  of  the  parent.  Grod  will  be  faith- 
ful. If  the  other  parties  fulfil  the  con- 
ditions, he  will  convey  the  covenanted 
blessings.  If  they  are  not  conveyed,  the 
fault  is  with  tJiem,  one  or  both.  Let  God 
be  true,  though  every  man  were  a  liar. 
But  if  the  second  party,  the  parent,  be 
faithful,  this  will  ordinarily  secure  the 
fidelity  of  the  third,  by  God's  blessing. 
Yet  herein  he  hath  not  divested  himself 
of  his  own  sovereignty.  His  promise  is 
fulfilled,  if  filial  faith  and  piety  ordinarily 
ensue  upon  faithful  parental  training. 
For  the  principle,  that  a  child  rightly 
trained  will  not  prove  false  to  his  training 
in  after  life,  is  one  of  those  general  laws 
of  God's  providential  and  gracious  deal- 
ings, which  may  have  its  exceptions.    It 


AXD   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  73 

declares  the  tendency  and  usual  effect, 
rather  than  the  invariable  rule.  "A  soft 
answer  turneth  away  wrath,"  means  that 
such  is  its  tendency  and  its  ordinary,  but 
not  invariable,  effect.  And  who  for  a 
moment  doubts  that  the  class  of  baptized 
recreants  would  be  vastly  less  than  it  now 
is,  if  Christian  parents  were  generally 
faithful  to  their  high  trust  and  solemn 
vows;  if,  with  a  just  idea  of  the  status  of 
their  baptized  little  ones,  they  exercised 
due  diligence  and  discretion,  in  bringing 
them  to  a  consciousness  of  their  rank,  ob- 
ligations and  privileges  as  members  of 
the  family  of  God,  and  in  moulding  their 
habits  of  thinking,  feeling  and  acting,  into 
harmony  therewith  ?  Should  we  then 
witness  such  vast  numbers  of  them  taking 
their  place  with  heathens  and  publicans, 
to  which  a  widely  prevalent  theory  and 


74     THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH 


practice  consign  them  from  the  start,  in 
the  hope,  doubtless,  of  afterwards  possibly 
reclaiming  them  ?  And  should  we  have 
such  masses,  who,  instead  of  owning  the 
Grod  in  whose  name  they  were  baptized, 
profane  his  name,  and,  under  the  very 
shadow  of  the  sanctuary,  ^'  live  as  hea- 
thens do  r     We  think  not. 

The  same  conclusion  is  supported  by 
known  or  conceded  facts  :  1.  With  regard 
to  the  large  number  of  children  of  God's 
people  who  die  in  infancy,  few  whom  this 
discussion  concerns,  doubt  that  they  are 
members  of  the  Church  invisible,  and 
heirs  of  salvation.  2.  Of  those  that  grow 
up,  a  large  proportion,  even  under  the 
most  inadequate  nurture,  and  the  most 
unpropitious  modes  of  thinking  on  this 
subject,  ultimately,  (and  for  the  most  part 
in  early  life,)  give  such  evidence  of  piety, 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  75 

that  they  are  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  on  a  credible  profession.  Even 
Baptist  churches  are  replenished  from 
their  children  more  than  from  any  other 
source.  3.  The  proportion  is  still  greater, 
immensely  greater,  in  churches  which 
preserve  unimpaired,  practically  as  well 
as  theoretically,  the  true  idea  of  the 
status  of  baptized  children,  and  also  keep 
high  the  standard  of  evangelical  truth 
and  piety,  as  in  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land. Probably  the  proportion  of  them 
who  in  time  give  hopeful  evidence  of 
piety,  in  such  bodies,  is  as  large  as  of 
those  who  are  first  gathered  into  the  visi- 
ble Church  from  the  world,  upon  the 
credible  profession  of  conversion.  4. 
When  Clirist  bids  little  children  to  come 
to  him,  it  is  on  the  express  ground  that 
"  of  such  is  the  kingdom    of  heaven." 


76        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

But  of  whom  is  this  predicated  if  not  of 
the  seed  of  the  pious,  whose  God  he  has 
specially  covenanted  to  be,  assuring  his 
people  that  his  Spirit  and  his  word  shall 
not  depart  out  of  their  mouth,  nor  out 
of  the  mouth  of  their  seed,  nor  out  of  the 
mouth  of  their  seed's  seed,  from  hence- 
forth and  for  ever  ?  Isaiah  lix.  21.  "  The 
Lord  thy  God  will  circumcise  thy  heart, 
and  the  heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou  mayest  live/' 
Deut.  XXX.  6. 

If  we  are  not  wholly  mistaken  in  this 
analysis  of  the  doctrine  of  Scripture  and 
our  standards  on  this  subject,  which,  so 
far  forth,  harmonize  with  all  the  great 
Protestant  symbols,  then  we  apprehend 
it  follows :  1.  That  Christian  parents, 
or  others  in  loco  parentis,  having  charge 


AND    SEALING   OKDINANCES.  77 

of  the  religious  training  of  children,  are 
invested  with  high  duties,  and  encouraged 
by  glorious  promises.  They  are  to  take 
these  children  as  those  whom  Christ  has 
claimed  for  himself,  by  affixing  to  them 
the  seal  of  his  grace.  They  are  to  be 
deeply  conscious  themselves,  and  do  their 
utmost  to  make  the  child  deeply  conscious, 
that,  as  a  visible  member  of  Christ's  Church, 
he  is  false  to  his  own  position  if  he  diso- 
beys that  Saviour,  as  truly  as  if  he  should 
make  war  upon  his  own  family,  or  join 
the  enemies  of  his  country.  He  is  to  be 
made  to  understand  that  the  feelings,  acts, 
habits,  and  manners  which  Christ  enjoins, 
alone  befit  his  position,  as  truly  as  if  he 
were  an  adult  professor.  He  should  know 
that  his  attitude  requires  that  all  questions 
relative  to  action  be  determined  in  the 
light  of  Christian  principle  and  divine  com- 
7* 


78        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE    CHURCH, 

mand.  Of  course  he  should  be  constantly 
instructed  according  to  his  age  and  capacity, 
and  in  all  the  ways  in  which  light  penetrates 
the  3^outhful  mind,  what  Christianity  is  in 
doctrine  and  life,  what  the  Lord  would 
have  him  to  do.  He  should  be  taught 
the  Bible,  and  Catechisms  suited  to  his 
years.  Moreover,  by  the  light  of  holy 
example,  by  all  ingenuity  of  illustration, 
suggestion,  and  sweet  insinuation,  which 
paternal  wisdom,  or  the  delicacy  of  ma- 
ternal tact  can  supply,  should  the  holy 
truths  of  the  gospel  be  entwined  with 
the  tendrils  of  the  tender,  forming  mind, 
to  "  grow  with  its  growth,  and  strengthen 
with  its  strength."  There  is  a  high 
sense  in  which  the  parent  and  teacher  is 
master  of  the  thoughts,  judgments,  and 
consequent  feelings  of  the  opening  mind. 
It  is  on  this  great  truth  that  the  divine 


And  sealing  ordinances.  79 

economy  of  social  life  is  largely  based, 
and  that  the  covenants  and  rites  which 
appropriate  to  God  the  children  of  his 
people  are  founded.  The  very  end  of  the 
mysterious  and  inviolable  oneness  effected 
by  the  marriage  tie  is,  that  parents  may 
have  "  a  godly  seed."  Hence  the  seal- 
ing rite  of  circumcision,  and,  by  parity 
of  reason,  baptism,  is  extended  to  sex^vants 
over  whose  nurture  they  have  control. 
Gen.  xvii.  12. 

Indispensable,  however,  as  the  work 
of  imparting  knowledge  is,  there  is  a 
higher,  more  delicate  and  difficult  work 
to  be  done,  in  all  good  education,  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  rehgious.  It  is  to  train, 
by  which  we  understand  the  formation 
of  right  practical  habits,  in  that  sphere  to 
which  the  education  pertains.  And  by  a 
right  habit,  whether  of  body  or  soul,  we 


80  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

mean  simply  that  state  which  fits  and  in- 
clines the  subject  to  right  action  in  the 
premises.  Habits  of  vigorous  and  effect- 
ive intellectual  activity  are  the  grand 
benefit  of  a  thorough  intellectual  educa- 
tion ;  correct  moral  habits,  founded  on 
good  principles,  are  the  grand  result  of  a 
good  moral  education.  Correct  habits  of 
soul,  in  regard  to  spiritual  and  divine 
things,  are  precisely  what  is  wrought  in 
it  by  regeneration.  For  this  no  outward 
culture  or  human  training  is  a  substitute. 
But  as  the  Spirit  operates  not  in  defiance 
or  suspension  of  the  laws  and  activities 
of  our  rational  and  moral  nature ;  not  in 
contravention  of,  but  in  giving  due  effi- 
cacy to,  outward  motives  and  means;  and 
as  God's  promise  is  annexed  to  faithful 
training ;  so  where  this  is  faithfully,  dis- 
creetly, and  prayerfully  given,  we  have 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  81 

reason  to  hope  and  belieA^e  that  the  invisi- 
ble working  of  the  Spirit  will  silently 
mingle  with  and  interpenetrate  it,  and 
make  it  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  Now, 
since  there  is  a  wide  sphere  in  which  the 
parent  has  command  of  the  activity  of  the 
child,  and  can  contribute  to  the  formation 
of  outward  habits,  and  even  to  habits  of 
thought  and  feeling,  he  is  bound  by  divine 
command,  by  bapljismal  vows,  by  every 
instinct  of  a  gracious  soul,  to  make  these 
habits,  so  far  as  he  is  responsible  for  them, 
conformed  to  the  law  of  God.  Hence, 
God  sets  it  forth  as  the  high  commenda- 
tion of  Abraham,  and  the  ground  of  his 
large  covenants  with  him  and  his  posterity : 
"  For  I  know  him,  that  he  will  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after  him, 
and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
to  do  justice  and  judgment  3  that  the  Lord 


82        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he 
hath  spoken  of  him."  (Gen.  xviii.  19.) 
Hence,  the  holy  resolution  of  Joshua,  "As 
for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 
Hence  the  commands  and  promises  with  re- 
gard to  training  children  in  the  way  in 
which  they  should  go,  and  bringing  them  up 
in  the  nurture  (or  discipline)  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord.  Hence,  according  to  our 
Directory,  they  are  to  be  taught  the  Lord's 
prayer ;  also  "  to  pray,  to  abhor  sin,  to 
fear  God,  and  obey  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Much  under  God  depends  upon  the  vskill 
with  which  this  difficult  and  delicate  duty 
is  performed.  It  is  in  its  nature  continu- 
ous, and  in  its  forms  manifold.  It  requires 
that  mingled  firmness,  fidelity,  gentleness, 
amenity,  and  sympathy  with  the  young, 
which  are  too  seldom  found  together.  The 
more  common  and  perilous  delinquency 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  83 

is  a  gross  negligence  which  indolently 
abandons  children,  without  remorse,  to 
their  own  wayward  impulses.  Multitudes 
omit  Christian  training  in  every  proper 
sense.  But  there  is  a  fault  so  perilous 
in  many  who  mean  to  be  faithful  in  this 
regard,  that  the  Apostle  finds  occasion 
expressly  to  warn  them  against  it. 
"  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  io 
ivrath^  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord."  We  have 
seen  the  good  influence  of  many  a  pious 
father  worse  than  frustrated,  by  a  stern- 
ness and  severity,  a  harshness  and  aus- 
terity, a  frowning  and  unsympathizing 
distance  from  his  children,  which,  if  it 
commanded  a  reluctant  eye-service,  com- 
manded nothing  better,  and  repelled  their 
affections,  not  only  from  him,  but  (we 
fear)  from  the  rehgion  which  he  thus  im- 


84 

personated  before  them.  And  in  many 
such  cases,  the  wonder  that  children  so 
trained  grow  up  in  irrehgion,  is  misplaced. 
The  promise  has  failed  because  the  con- 
dition of  it  has  failed.  Such  children 
have  not  been  trained  as  God  requires. 
It  is  quite  as  easy  to  err  and  fail  by 
governing  too  much,  as  by  not  governing 
enough .''' 

In  aid  of  this  domestic  Christian  nur- 
ture, come,  or  ought  to  come,  "the  inspec- 
tion and  government  of  the  Church."  Of 
course,  so  far  as  direct  discipline  is  con- 

*  "  His  carriage  towards  his  childreu  was  with  great 
mildness  and  gentleness,  as  one  who  desired  rather  to  be 
loved  than  to  be  feared  by  them. 

He  Avas  as  careful  not  to  pjwoJce  them  to  v^rath,  nor 
to  discourage  them,  as  he  was  to  bring  them  up  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  He  ruled  indeed, 
and  kept  up  his  authority,  but  it  was  with  wisdom  and 
love,  and  not  with  a  high  hand.    He  allowed  his  children 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  85 

cerned  in  their  younger  years,  this  must 
be  mainly  exercised  through  the  parents, 
by  due  vigilance  and  pains-taking  on  the 
part  of  the  pastor  and  elders,  to  see  that 
they  measurably  discharge  their  obliga- 
tions and  vows  to  train  their  children  up 
for  Christ.  But,  even  in  their  early  days, 
the  officers  and  members  of  the  Church 
should  manifest  a  kindly  recognition  of, 
and  tender  interest  in,  them  as  lambs  of 
the  flock.  They  should  feed  them  with 
knowledge,  guide  them  by  counsel,  and 
specially  commend  them  to  God  in  prayer. 

a  great  degree  of  freedom  with  him,  which  gave  him  the 
opportunity  of  reasoning  with  them,  not  frightening  them 
into  that  which  is  good.  He  did  much  towards  the  in- 
struction of  his  children  in  the  way  of  familiar  discourse, 
according  to  that  excellent  directory  for  religious  educa- 
tion, Deut.  vi.  7,  which  made  them  love  home,  and  delight 
in  his  company,  and  greatly  endeared  religion  to  them." 
Life  of  Philip  Henry  by  his  son 
8 


86        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

Where  the  old  practice  of  the  pastor  meet- 
ing them,  catechizing,  and  exhorting 
them  as  children  of  the  Church,  has  gone 
into  disuse,  it  should  be  revived,  and  per- 
petually maintained.  All  things  should 
be  so  conducted  as  to  render  the  child 
conscious  of  his  Church  relations,  and  to 
point  his  mind  forward  to  the  time  when 
he  will,  for  himself,  be  called  to  assume 
the  privileges  and  responsibilities  of  mem- 
bership; just  as  minors  in  the  State  look 
forward  to  the  time  when  they  will  reach 
the  franchise  and  obligations  of  matured 
citizenship.  They  should  feel  that,  in 
either  case,  they  may  forfeit  the  high 
boon  by  their  miscarriage ;  and,  in  that 
event,  will  be  exposed  to  corresponding 
penalties  and  privations,  at  the  hands  of 
the  proper  authorities.  When  they  ap- 
proach majority,  the  Church  should  spare 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  87 

no  efforts  of  instruction,  exhortation,  re- 
buke, and  encouragement,  which  their  cases 
may  severally  require,  in  order  to  evoke 
dormant  graces  into  exercise,  and  inspire 
those  pious  views  and  feelings  which  pre- 
pare and  dispose  them  to  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  If  they  slide  into  acts  or 
habits  incompatible  wdth  godliness,  either 
before  or  after  their  first  approach  to  the 
table,  they  should  be  visited  with  faithful 
and  tender  admonition;  and,  if  still  incor- 
rigible, with  censure;  and  until  they  mani- 
fest repentance,  they  should  be  debarred 
from  communion.  Even  if  they  display 
no  bar  to  communion,  which  human  eyes 
can  detect,  they  are  to  be  taught  that 
allowed  secret  sin,  of  omission  or  commis- 
sion, disqualifies  them  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  their  own  consciences ;  and  that  they 
cannot  acceptably  receive  and  give  this 


88    THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

pledge  of  union  to  Christ,  unless,  sensible 
of  their  sin  and  deploring  it,  they  trust  his 
blood  for  deliverance  from  it,  and  are 
firmly  resolved,  by  his  grace  assisting,  to 
die  unto  sin  and  live  unto  God,  and  walk 
in  all  his  commands  and  ordinances  blame- 
lessly. But  if  they  know  all  this,  the 
very  act  of  coming  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
is  a  solemn  profession  of  faith  in,  and  obe- 
dience to  Christ ;  and,  unless  there  be  that 
in  their  known  words  or  deeds  which  dis- 
credits such  a  profession,  the  Church 
cannot  lawfully  exclude  them ;  for  inward 
disqualifications  which  they  do  not  avow 
or  otherwise  manifest,  while  they  intelli- 
gently profess  Christ,  can  be  known  only 
to  themselves  and  their  God.  Be  occidtis 
ecclesia  non  judicata 

*  Says  Edwards  :  *'  Not  any  pretended  extraordinary 
skill  of  his  (the  pastor)  in  discerning  the  heart,  but  the 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  89 

Our  church  wisely  requires  the  officers 
of  the  church  to  examine  candidates  for  the 

person's  own  serious  profession  concerning  what  he  finds 
in  his  own  soul,  after  he  has  been  well  instructed,  must 
regulate  the  public  conduct  with  respect  to  him,  where 
there  is  no  other  external  visible  thing  to  contradict  and 
overrule  it.  And  a  serious  profession  of  godliness,  under 
these  circumstances,  carries  in  it  a  visibility  to  the  eye 
of  the  Church's  rational  and  Christian  judgment." — 
Qualifications  for  Communion,  vol.  iv.  page  421. 

In  the  controversy  with  his  people,  which  led  to  their 
disgraceful  rejection  of  him  as  their  pastor,  he  ojffered  to 
be  satisfied  with  the  following  profession  on  the  part  of 
those  baptized  in  infancy  :  "  I  hope  I  do  truly  find  a  heart 
to  give  up  myself  wholly  to  God,  according  to  the  tenor 
of  the  covenant  of  grace  which  was  sealed  in  my  bap- 
tism, and  to  walk  in  a  way  of  obedience  to  all  the  com- 
mandments of  God,  which  the  covenant  of  grace  requires, 
as  long  as  I  live."  He  says  :  "  If  there  were  an  exter- 
nal conversation  agreeable  thereto,  ...  I  should  think 
that  such  a  person,  solemnly  making  such  a  profession,  had 
a  right  to  be  received  as  an  object  of  public  charity, 
however  he  himself  might  scruple  Ms  own  conversion, 
8* 


90        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

Lord's  Supper,  in  regard  to  their  "  know- 
ledge and  piety ;"  not  as  therein  under- 
taking to  judge  the  secrets  of  the  heart, 
but  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against 
heedless,  ignorant,  irreverent  intruders, 
and  ensuring,  as  far  as  may  be,  that 
Christian  knowledge,  that  apparent  sin- 
cere trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 


on  account  of  his  not  remembering  the  time,  not  know- 
ing the  method  of  his  own  conversion,  or  finding  so  much 
remaining  sin,  &c.  And  (if  his  own  scruples  did  not 
hinder)  I  should  think  a  minister  or  a  church  had  no 
right  to  debar  such  a  professor,  though  he  did  not  think 
himself  converted.  For  I  call  that  a  profession  of  god- 
liness, which  is  a  profession  of  the  great  things  wherein 
godliness  consists,  and  not  a  profession  of  his  own  opinion 
of  his  good  estate."  Reply  to  Williams,  vol.  iv.  pp. 
465 — 6.  This  will  hardly  tally  with  Mr.  Tracy's  theory 
of  the  evidences  of  regeneration  and  fitness  for  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  while  yet  it  does  not  prove  that  the  great  re- 
vival, and  this  theory,  had  no  mutual  interdependence. 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  91 

purpose  of  obedience  to  him,  which  are 
involved  in  a  credible  profession  of  fliith. 
While  they  are  to  be  instructed  that 
the  absence  of  these  things  is  a  disquali- 
fication for  the  Lord's  table,  our  ministers 
are  expressly  required  to  invite  to  it  all 
''  such  as,  sensible  of  their  lost  and  help- 
less estate  by  sin,  depend  upon  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  for  pardon  and  acceptance 
with  God;  such  as,  being  instructed  in 
the  gospel  doctrine,  have  a  competent 
knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  body ; 
and  such  as  are  determined  to  renounce 
their  sins,  and  are  determined  to  lead  a 
holy  and  godly  life."  And  this  none  the 
less,  though  they  can  give  no  history  of 
the  time,  order,  manner  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  such  exercises  of  soul.  If 
such  are  their  views  and  feelings,  then 
have  they  full  warrrant  to  come  to  the 


92        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

holy  feast.  Whether  they  remember  the 
time  and  manner  of  the  beginning  and 
progressive  development  of  these  states 
of  mind  and  heart,  or  whether  these  have 
ingrained  themselves  so  imperceptibly 
into  the  warp  and  woof  of  their  inner 
being,  that  they  can  mark  no  distinct 
epoch,  or  hinge-point  in  their  career,  as 
the  crisis  of  the  new  birth  ;  it  is  enough 
that  they  can  say,  "  Whereas  I  was  blind, 
now  I  see.'"^  Or  even  if  the  sanctifying 
work  of  the  Spirit  was  coeval  with,  or 

*''  He  would  blame  those  who  laid  so  much  stress  on 
people  knowing  the  exact  time  of  their  conversion,  which 
he  thought  was  with  many  not  possible  to  do.  Who 
can  so  soon  be  aware  of  the  day-break  or  the  springing 
up  of  the  seed  sown  ?  The  work  of  grace  is  better 
known  in  its  effects  than  in  its  causes.  He  would  some- 
times  illustrate  this  by  that  saying  of  the  blind  man  to 
the  Pharisees,"  &c. — Life  of  Philip  Henry  by  7iis  son 
Matthew  Henry. 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  93 

anterior  to  their  earliest  remembrance,  and 
so  combined  with  their  Christian  training, 
as  to  actuate  and  rule  the  growth  of  the 
soul  in  its  successive  unfoldings ;  so  that 
the  candidate  remembers  not  the  time 
when  he  did  not  fear  God,  abhor  sin,  and 
look  to  Christ  for  forgiveness;  he  will 
make  none  the  worse  Christian,  or  be 
worse  quaUfied  for  the  holy  Supper,  on. 
that  account.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where 
it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
Cometh  and  whither  it  goeth ;  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  (Johniii. 
8.)  "  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a 
man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground, 
and  should  sleep  and  rise,  night  and  day; 
and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up, 
he  knoweth  not  how.  For  the  earth 
bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the 


94  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear."  (Mark  iv.  26—28.) 

Were  this  idea  of  the  import  of  infant 
baptism  intelligently  and  faithfully  carried 
out  in  the  practical  regimen  of  families 
and  churches,  we  believe  the  amount  of 
baptized  apostasy  would  be  greatly  di- 
minished ;  that  piety  among  parents  and 
children  would  not  only  be  more  widely 
diffused,  but  more  complete,  elevated,  and 
symmetrical,  as  a  vital  force  penetrating 
all  the  relations  of  life  ;  that  the  spec- 
tacle of  devout  men,  fearing  God,  with 
all  their  house,  would  be  as  frequent  as  it  is 
delightful ;  that  the  Church  would  be  en- 
sured perpetuity  and  increase,  not  merely 
by  external  conquest  and  aggregation,  but 
by  internal  growth  and  evolution,  in  the 
multiplication  of  those  happy  families,  of 
which  we  could  say,  "Behold  how  good 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  95 

and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity."  "  There  the  Lord 
hath  commanded  his  blessing,  even  life 
for  evermore  !"  Such  a  cheering  faith  is 
warranted  by  the  promises  of  God,  which 
are  none  the  less  true,  though  our  unbelief 
fail  to  reahze  them.  Such  is  the  conclu- 
sion warranted  by  every  rational  view  of 
man's  nature,  as  related  to  the  economy 
of  redemption. 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  all  this  may  be  ac- 
complished by  God's  sovereign  grace  ac- 
companying his  word,  even  without  making 
account  of  the  church-state  of  believers' 
children,  as  has  been  set  forth.  True,  all 
things  are  possible  with  God ;  he  can  and 
does  sometimes  save  men  without  any 
visible  instrumentality  but  his  written 
word.  But  is  this  his  ordinary  way? 
Or,  as  man  is  constituted,  is  it  likely  to 


96        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

be  the  most  effective  way  ?  No ;  faith 
Cometh  by  hearing,  and  it  pleases  God, 
by  the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save 
them  that  believe.  For  he  works  not  in 
violation  of,  but  in  conformity  to,  the  laws 
of  man's  active  and  moral  powers.  So 
in  reference  to  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant, his  way  is  the  best  and  most  suc- 
cessful way,  whether  we  can  perceive  the 
rationale  of  it  or  not.  But  is  it  difficult 
to  see  this  ?  Is  not  the  effect  of  fixing 
their  place,  and  lot,  and  sympathies,  and 
associations  with  the  world,  at  the  outset, 
to  give  the  world  the  advantage  of  a  prior 
possession  and  use,  of  first  moulding  their 
tastes,  attachments,  and  habits,  so  that 
the  hindrances  to  their  embracing  Christ 
are  augmented  beyond  measure  ?  Does 
not  the  attitude  in  which  one  is  placed, 
have  much  to  do  in  deciding  what  can  be 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  97 

made  of  him  ?  And  in  all  its  bearings 
upon  the  kind  of  training  which  will  be 
given  to  a  child,  and  the  effect  which  that 
training  will  have  upon  him^  is  there  not 
a  heaven-wide  difference  between  the 
question,  whether  he  shall  apostatize  from 
the  Church,  in  which  he  was  born  and 
reared,  to  the  world  from  which  he  was 
taken  by  the  mercy  of  God,  while  yet  a 
babe ;  or  whether  he  shall  renounce  the 
world,  and  all  its  associations,  to  which 
he  has  been  wedded  by  a  life-long  habit 
and  association,  to  take  his  place  in  the 
Church  ?  These  and  similar  questions 
speak  their  own  answer  in  the  light  of 
reason,  experience,  and  the  word  of  God. 
It  was  no  irrational  fear  of  the  two  tribes 
and  a  half,  when  they  were  afraid  that 
the  children  of  the  tribes  over  Jordan 
should  cause  their  own  "  children  to  cease 
9 


98        THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

from  fearing  the  Lord,"  by  treating  them 
as  if  they  had  "  no  part  in  the  Lord." 
(Josh.  xxii.  24,  25.) 

It  is  true  that  God  is  mindful  of  his 
covenant,  notwithstanding  the  unbelief 
and  shortcomings  of  his  people,  and  we 
rejoice  in  the  multitudes  of  their  offspring, 
that,  even  under  the  most  defective  views 
of  his  .covenant,  and  the  most  flagrant 
parental  neglect,  still  become  his  children 
by  regeneration  and  adoption.  Even  so, 
evermore  where  sin  abounds,  grace  doth 
much  more  abound.  Else  what,  and  where 
were  we  all  ?  Nor  would  we,  in  the  least, 
disguise  or  extenuate  the  danger  of 
abusing  such  an  administration  in  the 
house  of  God,  as  our  standards  teach, 
and  we  have  very  imperfectly  shadowed 
forth.  Like  all  other  ordinances  of  God, 
it  may  be,  and  it  has  been,  misconceived 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  99 

by  the  ignorant,  and  perverted  by  the  for- 
mal, from  the  days  of  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  with  whom  the  covenant  was  first 
in  form  made,  until  now.  What  then? 
What  advantage  hath  the  seed  of  the 
pious,  and  what  profit  is  there  in  his  bap- 
tism? Much  every  way; — not  to  those 
who  pervert  it,  who  take  the  rite  without 
the  substance,  or  mistake  the  rite  for 
substance — but  to  those  who  justly 
apprehend  it,  and  believe,  and  do  accord- 
ingly, and  in  proportion  as  they  so  appre- 
hend, believe,  and  do.  It  is  easy  to  say 
that  the  Quakers  have  piety  without  ex- 
ternal rites  and  ordinances,  that  the  Ro- 
manists have  these  in  profusion  with 
scarcely  any  piety.  But  he  who  w^ould 
make  an  inference  from  this,  would  simply 
show  the  narrowness  of  his  mind.  For 
another  fact  consistent  with  each  of  these 


100  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

is,  that  piety  most  flourishes  in  commu- 
nions which  make  evangelical  faith  the 
life  of  the  soul,  while  they  use  the  simple 
ordinances  and  sacraments  of  Scripture, 
not  as  barren  forms,  but  according  to  their 
divine  intent  and  efficacy,  for  the  promo- 
tion of  that  faith.  For,  however  bap- 
tism may  save,  there  must  be  more  than 
the  outward  washing  away  of  the  filth 
of  the  flesh ;  even  the  answer  (sponsion, 
t^epoiTriiJLa)  of  a  good  conscience  towards  God. 
All  are  not  Israel  that  are  of  Israel.  "He 
is  not  a  Jew  that  is  one  outwardly;  neither 
is  that  circumcision  which  is  outward  in 
the  flesh  ;  but  he  is  a  Jew  that  is  one  in- 
wardly, and  circumcision  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  spirit  and  not  in  the  letter; 
whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God." 
These  views  were  among  the  common- 
places of  the  Keformed  Theology,  which 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  101 

gave  being  and  shape  to  our  own  stand- 
ards. They  were  stated  with  various 
degrees  of  fulness  and  clearness,  by  dif- 
ferent standard  authors,  according  to  the 
measure  of  completeness  and  consistency 
which  each  one  had  reached  in  his  own 
thinking  on  the  subject.  Some  present 
the  doctrine  without  those  cautions  and 
limitations  which  are  a  substantive  part  of 
it.  Others  use  a  loose  phraseology,  which 
puts  their  real  principles  in  an  attitude 
liable  to  misconception.  But  they  with 
great  unanimity  teach  that  pedobaptism 
is  legitimate,  because,  1.  By  virtue  of 
the  covenant  there  is  a  presumption  that 
the  children  of  believers  are  among  God's 
elect,  to  whom  belong  the  blessings  signi- 
fied and  sealed  in  baptism ;  2.  Because 
they  are  capable  of  receiving  saving  grace 
even  in  infancy.  As  expressed  in  the 
9* 


102     THE   CHILDREN  OF   THE   CHURCH, 

first  Helvetic  Confession,  it  is  a  ground 
of  their  baptism,  that  de  eorimi  electione 
pis  est  prcesmnendum.  And  since  the  elect 
either  possess,  or  are  destined  to  possess, 
regeneration  and  adoption,  it  is  not  un- 
common to  speak  of  the  elect,  the  regen- 
erate, the  sanctified,  the  children  of  God, 
as  one  and  the  same.  In  this  aspect  some 
writers,  Reformed  and  others,  speak  of  the 
presumption  that  the  children  of  believers 
are  elect,  till  the  contrary  appears,  as  a 
presumption  that  they  are  regenerate,  and 
children  of  God,  till  the  contrary  appears. 
The  strong  statements  of  Calvin,  which 
many  have  tried  to  wrest  to  the  support 
of  baptismal  regeneration,  are  well  known. 
As  God  is  pleased  to  covenant  with  his 
people  to  be  a  God  to  them  and  their 
seed  after  them,  and  to  permit  them  to 
act  as  the  representatives  of  their  off- 


AND    SEALING   ORDINANCES.  103 

spring,  while  these  are  unable  to  act  for 
themselves,  in  stipulating  for  them  the 
service  and  accepting  the  grace  signified 
in  baptism,  Vitringa  founds  upon  this 
fact  the  presumption  that  the  baptized 
will  in  person  accept  the  position,  the 
service,  and  the  blessings,  thus  assumed 
for  them  by  parental  faith.  If  God  is 
pleased  to  regard  and  treat  them  in  their 
parents,  the  presumption  is  that  they  will 
themselves  assume  the  vows  made  for 
them,  till  the  contrary  appears.  After 
showing  that  the  promise  of  the  covenant 
does  not  ensure  to  all  and  singular  of  the 
children  of  believers  the  grace  of  life, 
since  all  experience  proves  the  contrary^ 
he  says,  "  When  God  hath  begun  to  man- 
ifest his  grace  to  the  parents  or  either  of 
them,  we  may  not  presume  otherwise  than 
that  he  will  confer  the  like  grace  upon 


104     THE   CHILDREN   OF   THE   CHURCH, 

their  infants,  so  long  as  the  contrary  does 
not  appear."  Non  licet  aliter  prcesumere 
quam  illam  eandem  gratiam  prcestiturum 
infantihus,  quamdiu  nobis  non  liquet  con- 
trarium.  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to 
say,  Juste  prcesumi7nus  ex  lege  charitatis  eos 
esse  sanctificatos  per  Spiritum  Semctimi ;  a 
form  of  statement  which,  taken  by  itself, 
many  would  take  as  more  than  is  true,  and 
more  than  his  real  doctrine,  as  gathered 
from  all  his  representations,  means. 

De  Moor,  commenting  on  the  confession 
prescribed  to  parents  in  the  Belgic  Lit- 
urgy, on  bringing  their  infants  to  bap- 
tism, that  as  they  are  born  in  sin  and 
thus  subject  to  misery  and  condemnation, 
so  they  are  sanctified  in  Christ,  and  there- 
fore to  be  baptized  as  members  of  his 
church ;  [in  Christo  sanctificatos  esse,  ideoque 
tanquam  membra  ecclesioe  ejus  debere  bapti- 


AND    SEALING    ORDINANCES.  105 

zari;)  expounds  and  accepts  it  in  this  sense, 
that  a  promise  of  saving  grace  is  given 
indefinitely  to  the  children  of  believers 
in  preference  to  those  of  unbelievers,  and 
that  it  is  actually  bestowed  upon  some 
of  them  in  earliest  infancy,  whence  it  is 
permitted  specially  to  entertain  a  good 
hope  concerning  children  now  offered  in 
baptism  by  believing  parents.  Unde 
speciatim  de  Msce  liheris,  qui  nunc  offerun- 
tur  haptkandi,  spem  honam  concipere  licet. 
This  hope,  however,  he  is  careful  to  say 
is  often  disappointed  in  the  event.  He 
quotes  Markius  with  approbation,  as  say. 
ing,  that  while  it  is  conceded  that  profes- 
sion is  a  prerequisite  to  baptism  in  adults, 
we  deem  it  sufficient  in  the  case  of  in- 
fants, if,  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  it 
be  likely  to  follow.  Putamus  sufficere  si 
infantlhus  secundum  judicium  charitatis  sub- 


106    THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

sequatur.  The  point  to  be  observed  is,  that 
the  baptism  of  children  is  here  founded 
on  the  charitable  presumption  that  they 
will  prove  to  be  partakers  of  the  blessings 
it  seals. 

Witsius,  having  shown  that  many  chil- 
dren of  the  pious  prove  not  to  be  children 
of  God,  and  thus  that  the  covenant  must 
not  be  understood  as  ensuring  the  grace 
of  life  to  all  and  each  of  them,  says, 
"  Charity  requires  us  to  count  them  as 
beloved  children  of  God,  and  as  of  his 
family,  till  they  evince  the  contrary  by 
their  depraved  disposition  and  conduct." 
Chcmtas  enim  j'uhet  infantes  ejusmodi,  ut 
dlledos  Dei  liheros,  ipsiusque  Dei  familice 
adnwnerare,  donee  contrarium  pessimd  indole 
p^avisqiie  facinorihus,  dee.  The  words,  "  hy- 
pothesis," "presumption,"  "supposition," 
"  count,"  "  regard,"  &c.,  in  such  connec- 


AND   SEALING   ORDINANCES.  107 

tions,  mean  not  the  positive  conviction 
that  all  the  children  of  the  covenant  are 
or  will  be  real  children  of  God,  any  more 
than  Paul  meant  that  he  really  believed 
all  whom  he  addressed  as  "saints"  were 
really  such ;  but  that  they  are  to  be 
reckoned  and  treated  as  among  Christ's 
redeemed  ones,  till  the  contrary  is 
evinced. 

We  conclude  with  the  following  from 
the  Life  of  Philip  Henry  by  his  son  Mat- 
thew, author  of  the  celebrated  commen- 
tary on  the  Bible,  as  showing  the  views, 
practical  and  theoretical,  of  these  devout 
men.  If  we  cannot  see  our  way  clear  to 
follow  them,  so  far  as  there  is  any  appear- 
ance of  requiring  authoritatively  what 
ought  to  be  the  free  act  of  the  child,  we 
think  all  pious  parents  should  rejoice  and 
labour  to  bring  their  baptized  children  to 


108   THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

such  views  and  feelings,  as  would  lead 
them  freely  and  intelligently,  in  this  or 
equivalent  ways,  to  fulfil  their  baptismal 
obligations. 

''  He  drew  up  a  short  form  of  the  bap- 
tismal covenant  for  the  use  of  his  chil- 
dren.    It  was  this  : 

"'I  take  God  the  Father  to  be  my 
chiefest  good  and  highest  end. 

"  '  I  take  God  the  Son  to  be  my  Prince 
and  Saviour. 

" '  I  take  God  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be 
my  Sanctifier,  Teacher,  Guide,  and  Com- 
forter. 

" '  I  take  the  word  of  God  to  be  my  rule 
in  all  my  actions ;  and  the  people  of 
God  to  be  my  people  in  all  conditions. 

"  ^  I  do  likewise  devote  and  dedicate  unto 
the  Lord  my  whole  self,  all  I  am,  all  I 
have,  all  I  can  do. 


AND   SEALING  ORDINANCES.  109 

"  ^  And  this  I  do  deliberately,  sincerely, 
freely,  and  for  ever/ 

''This  he  taught  his  children;  and  they 
each  of  them  solemnly  repeated  it  every 
Lord's  day  in  the  evening  after  they  were 
catechized,  he  putting  his  Ainen  to  it;  and 
sometimes  adding, '  So  say,  and  so  do,  and 
you  are  made  for  ever/ 

"  He  also  took  great  pains  with  them 
to  lead  them  into  the  understanding  of 
it,  and  to  persuade  them  to  a  free  and 
cheerful  consent  to  it.  And,  when  they 
grew  up,  he  made  them  all  write  it  over 
severally  with  their  own  hands,  and  very 
solemnly  set  their  names  to  it,  which  he 
told  them  he  would  keep  by  him,  and  it 
should  be  produced  as  a  testimony  against 
them,  in  case  they  should  afterwards  de- 
part from  God  and  turn  from  following 
after  him. 

10 


110     THE   CHILDREN  OF   THE   CHURCH. 

"  He  was  careful  to  bring  his  children 
betimes,  (when  they  were  about  sixteen 
years  of  age,)  to  the  ordinance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  to  take  the  covenant  of 
God  upon  themselves,  and  to  make  their 
dedication  to  God  their  own  act  and 
deed ;  and  a  great  deal  of  pains  he  took 
with  them  to  prepare  them  for  that  great 
ordinance,  and  so  to  translate  them  into 
the  state  of  adult  church  membership. 

"In  dealing  with  his  children  about 
their  spiritual  state,  he  took  hold  of  them 
very  much  by  the  handle  of  their  infant 
baptism,  and  frequently  inculcated  upon 
them  that  they  were  born  in  God's  house, 
and  were  betimes  dedicated  and  given 
up  to  him,  and  therefore  were  obliged  to 
be  his  servants.  Psalm  cxvi.  16.  I  am 
thy  servant,  because  the  son  of  thine  hand- 
maid.— Miscellaneous  ivorJcs  of  Rev.  Mat- 
thew  Henry;   Vol.  1  pp.  51,  2. 


